


The Marauders and The Beastly Uprising

by Saturn5



Series: The Marauders [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Inspired by Novel, Novel, Pre-Canon, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-05 06:55:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 30,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4170282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saturn5/pseuds/Saturn5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The FIRST book of The Marauders series. The Marauders attend their first year at Hogwarts, only to be met by something beastly. Their strong friendship and trouble-making shows at an early age that puts them in a very serious position. (book 1/7)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting in Diagon Alley

**Author's Note:**

> Context and canon environment, etc. due to J.K. Rowling.

Walburga Black had been through this so many times with her siblings, nieces and nephews that it was now a chore more than anything. Especially this time. She watched the uncontrollable Sirius bounce and bound through Diagon Alley, where they were shopping for his school supplies, with a subtle scowl. He sped past chattering children carrying their new owls and cats, pressed his nose against a window to examine a pure gold cauldron and clapped his hands at the sight of the newest broom displayed as if it was a diamond ring. Walburga turned up her nose. It upheld the theory that there was always one white sheep in a family of Black sheep.  
Her lips thinned as she saw him flicking his brand new wand around and pretending to cast jinxes on passersby. They had most of their things—and she was glad because she just wanted it to be over—when she tugged the over-excited boy from the window of the broom shop and thrust him into Flourish & Blotts to get his own text books. She had enough of Sirius Black for a lifetime, so there was no way she was accompanying him.  
“Here!” she pushed the list into his hands with little patience, “Get your books. I’ll wait outside. And I’m only waiting for five minutes!”  
He squealed with joy. Nothing, not even his mother’s bad mood could blanket his excitement. He had just got his letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry only days ago. It was obvious that it was going to come, he being part of a long line of pure-blood witches and wizards, but when he finally held the envelope in his hand it seemed almost too good to be true. The crest of the school printed so perfectly, the words announcing he was to attend his first year, it was incredible. He had read the letter at least twenty times.  
Sirius Black leapt into the bookstore and gawked at all the shelves that held fantastical titles, some of them matching those on his list. He wasn’t much of a bookworm, but the occasion was something special. All the boys and girls didn’t look as remotely excited as him, in fact he even saw one girl crying not to go. He felt almost personally offended.  
The shop assistants ignored him, as towering adults and seventh years bothered them with their own lists, and Sirius Black found himself pushed around and a little lost for words. If only his mother decided that her first-born child actually belonged to her.  
He was pushed into another boy, who looked about the same age as him. They both fell over in a fit of screams and they took down a couple of unsuspecting witches and wizards along with them like a line of dominoes.  
“James!” his father scolded, reaching to pick up the child whose hair was now messed up beyond repair.  
There was a wave of flustered mumbles as everyone pulled themselves up and Sirius got a proper look at the boy. He was skinny with short black-hair and wore a perfectly-fitted bright green jumper that was now untidily drawn to one side.  
“I’m sorry! Someone pushed me,” Sirius apologized and offered his hand to James as he got up.  
James took it and laughed out loud as he patted his hair down a little.  
“That’s alright, mate—I’m alright, Dad! Leave me alone!—just give me a little warning next time,” he chuckled, “James Potter. Who are you?”  
He was now also laughing, “I’m Sirius.”  
They shook hands intently, when Sirius felt a hand touch his shoulder gently and looked up. It was Mr. Potter who was smiling down at the two boys. His father looked very little like James, save for his nose and lanky figure, instead his graying light brown hair was neatly parted and he had the beginnings of a thin grey beard. He seemed quite a lot older than any of the other parents in the shop.  
“Now, where are your parents, son?” he asked, “Flourish & Blotts is no place for kids to be—”  
“Dad, we’re not kids!” James protested, “We’re eleven! You—you are eleven, right?”  
Mr. Potter put his hands up defensively in a joking manner. By now, he had learned to take his son’s aggressive regard that he was constantly embarrassing him as a thing that he would hopefully grow out of. Hopefully.  
James looked at Sirius for an answer, but he ruefully shook his head. He didn’t want to make his new friend look like an idiot.  
“Twelve, actually,” he said, flushing red, “but I’m still first year.”  
“Perfectly fine, Sirius,” Mr. Potter dissipated the boy’s embarrassment with a gentle smile, “Now, what’s your surname, young man? Who are your parents? Maybe I can see them from up here.”  
He jokingly stood on his tip-toes and James visibly cringed at his father.  
Sirius pulled a face and scratched his arm, “Black.”  
Mr. Potter seemed to digest this single syllable quite seriously, but soon resumed his gentle smile. This new information didn’t make him crane his neck trying to find Walburga Black, as he so said. Instead he waved over a shop assistant and instructed her to get two of every item on his list. She looked a bit confused, but then registered Sirius’s presence and nodded courteously.  
“You seem like a decent young man, Sirius,” Mr. Potter said, “Promise me you’ll make sure James here stays out of trouble? He’s got quite the knack for it.”  
“Dad!” James blushed.  
Sirius giggled at him, which made James side-eye him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, James Potter knew that this boy was far from an angel himself. Excellent, he thought.  
The shop assistant delivered the sets of books into the arms of the two young boys just as Sirius’s mother came crashing through the crowd. She yanked Sirius towards her so that some of his books fell out of his arms. Mr. Potter managed to catch a few and stack them back in Sirius’s arms.  
“Where have you been, you naughty child?” she chided, pushing some galleons into the shop assistant’s hands, “I said five minutes, not fifteen!”  
Sirius’s cheeks turned a bright crimson red as he felt James watching him with curiousness. His father stepped forward.  
“It’s alright, Walburga,” he stated, “He just needed some help. He has all his books here. There’s no need for this.”  
“Podric Potter,” she acknowledged him with a subtle hint of animosity.  
She found herself a little more polite when addressing a fellow wealthy pure-blood, whether or not she liked them. And she didn’t like Podric. He was too liberal for her tastes, too accepting of the non-traditional—his cousin Charlus had been much more respectable in choosing to marry into the Noble House of Black. But Podric had married Grace of the MacDougal family, who Walburga considered to be a little loony. Liberal and loony was never a good combination for a family, she thought.  
“Sirius, here was just telling us that it’s his first year at Hogwarts,” he said conversationally, “Would you believe that my James is starting too?”  
She scanned the tall figure with hasty disgust with no intention to reply and then quickly pushed through Flourish & Blotts again with Sirius in tow. He tried to fight his way back to the Potters who seemed like an infinitely more appealing option that his mother, but she was too strong for him. When they were outside in Diagon Alley, she made a sickened noise and her gaze fell on Sirius.  
“That, my boy, is what scum looks like,” she sneered, “Never associate yourself with those Potters.”  
Sirius frowned angrily into the distance. That was it. Now, he would make sure James Potter became his best friend.  
“Well, if that family is scum,” Sirius smirked, “then what is our family?”  
Walburga’s eyes flashed murder. She let go of Sirius to raise her hand and struck him deftly on the head. He winced, but did not stop grinning as she hit three more times. The more at-home wizarding families averted their gaze, knowing what Walburga was like, but the cowering Sirius brought on many onlookers from Muggle-born families. Some had even begun to step forward to intervene.  
“Do you strive for nothing but to bring shame to our name?” she shrieked, “Come on, you filth!”  
She grabbed his elbow violently, turned on the spot and Apparated from Diagon Alley back to their home, twelve Grimauld Place.

The loud bang of their disappearance made a plump little boy in Ollivander’s Wand Shop squeak with fright and throw the wand he was holding into the air. Mr. Ollivander caught it with amazing agility and offered it back to the boy.  
“Going to want to be careful with that, my boy,” he winked, “Hornbeam is a little hard to come by these days.”  
“Say thank you, Peter,” Mrs. Pettigrew said sternly, “and apologise.”  
“Sorry,” he murmured, barely audible, “Thank you, Mr. Ollivander.”  
Mrs. Pettigrew’s hand was placed gently on Peter’s shoulder. Her arms were rather long and it gave the impression of Peter being pressed under the wing of some great bird. His father mused about the shop shyly poking about and examining the other boxes of wands. He turned around with a jump when his wife cleared her throat.  
“Don’t do that, Honey,” she said with a strained smile.  
She reached into her purse and paid Ollivander for the Hornbeam wand with a smarmy grin. It was a trademark of the Pettigrew family. Her son had inherited her oily smile, although one only saw this when he wasn’t frowning in worry and clinging to his mother’s dress.  
Mr. Pettigrew took her hand as she held it out assertively and they walked back into Diagon Alley with her leading the way. She let go of Peter to scan the list of items they still had to buy, tapping the list decisively.  
“Honey, would you go get these books?” she gave him the list and pointed to Flourish & Blotts.  
“Yes, Dear,” he did a small bow, instead of a nod and scampered off to the shop.  
Mrs. Pettigrew put her hand back on Peter’s shoulder and gently prodded him into the Magical Menagerie.  
“There are wild animals in here,” she cautioned, “so don’t be alarmed, Peter.”  
He was thankful for the warning because as soon as they entered the shop a great green lizard screamed at him from its cage. He moved away from it and stood next to the barrel of Puffskeins that seemed relatively harmless.  
The different owls flustered their feathers in the cages as he looked at them. He saw a particular tawny little owl that struck a chord in him. He was about to tell his mother, when the grouchy shop assistant shuffled towards them.  
“One common Barn Owl,” she announced without looking up, “That’s fine, right, Peter?”  
He didn’t say anything and she paid the man, who in turn gave her the cage of a very sickly looking bird. When she handed it to Peter it nearly bit his finger clean off.  
“What do we say?” she asked as she took his hand.  
“Thank-you, Mother,” he mumbled.


	2. Journey to Hogwarts

An ordinary looking couple made their way through King’s Cross Station with their son clutching both of their hands. He had never been in a place with so many people and although it didn’t scare him, it made him uncomfortable and worried. His parents however seemed oblivious to his awkward searching around.  
They stopped in front of the barrier between Platform 9 and 10. His mother let go of the trolley carrying his belongings and turned to his father, frowning.  
“So, remind me one more time, Lyall,” said Hope Lupin, “How does this exactly, er, work?”  
He smiled a patient smile, “Just like I said, we walk straight through the barrier when no one is looking and the train will be on the other side. You ready, Remus?”  
Remus looked up nervously, “Dad, are you sure the Headmaster—?”  
“He said he’ll take care of everything, honey,” Hope crouched to look at her son, “He’ll be waiting to meet you as soon as you’re sorted into your house.”  
Unsure about this, Remus merely looked away and allowed his mother to kiss him on his forehead. He had heard everything the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, had to say to him and his parents, but still couldn’t shake the bad feeling he had about going to Hogwarts. It all seemed to be in order, and now for the first time he was to be separated from his parents.  
It had always been an adult’s job to look after him, but now the responsibility fell on him. Remus Lupin considered himself a lot of responsibility.  
Hope got up again and linked arms with her husband. They checked left and right and then barged straight through the barrier, both Hope and Remus shutting their eyes. When he opened them, his mouth fell open.  
For a fleeting second his nervousness was filled with delight as he laid eyes on the steam engine gleaming in front of him. He wanted nothing more than to race into one of the carriages to join the other children, but it felt like an even bigger risk now that the idea was tangible. His fingers tightened around his father’s.  
“Hey there now,” said Lyall, “Come on, Remus. Don’t worry so much.”  
Remus shivered a little, “I don’t know, dad. I changed my mind. I don’t want to go.”  
Lyall ruffled the mousy brown head of hair, “Remmy, I know you’ll do us proud. Your mother and I are already so proud of you. Hogwarts will have gained an excellent wizard as soon as you step on that train.”  
Hope beamed at him, “And we’ll write to you every chance we can!”  
Reluctantly, he let go of their hands and kissed his parents goodbye. The train was seconds away from leaving as he hopped on and it shook him as he stumbled through the passage trying to find an empty compartment.  
Still wearing an oversized Muggle sweater, he clambered into a compartment only occupied by two students who also appeared to be first year. The girl had beautiful tresses of dark red hair that fell down her front, and the boy, dark and brooding, seemed upset about something. She stopped trying to calm him down as Remus walked in.  
“You don’t mind if I sit here, do you?” he asked, “Everywhere else is full and the seniors chased me away.”  
“We don’t mind,” said the girl, but the boy didn’t look as happy.  
He sat down quietly and took out a book not wanting to disturb them, but the girl leaned towards him so much so that he looked up.  
“That’s Dracula!” she exclaimed, meeting his eyes, “I didn’t know wizards read books like that.”  
“Oh, well, my mother’s a Muggle,” he shrugged, “and she gives me a lot of books to read. I like monster books.”  
“I like reading too,” she confessed.  
Remus looked at the other boy in the hope that he would join in on the conversation, but he only stared. It felt like his dark eyes bored into all his secrets, which made him revert back to the girl’s warmer eyes. They were a little red, which made him wonder whether she had been crying earlier.  
“Oh, I’m Lily, by the way,” she announced and then pointed to her companion, “This is Severus.”  
“Nice to meet you both,” he nodded, “I’m Remus.”  
“What house are you hoping to get into?” Severus asked aggressively, although it seemed unintentional.  
Remus looked down at his book for a while. He knew a lot about the houses from his father, who had tried to give him a magical education assuming he would never go to Hogwarts. This made Remus a little smarter than the average witch or wizard.   
“I don’t really care,” he said, “but Ravenclaw seems like I’d fit in. What about you two?”  
“Slytherin,” they said together.  
He nodded, unsure whether he was supposed to commend them or otherwise. Being in contact with children his age was a particularly unusual activity for him.  
The rest of the journey passed with him and Lily talking about their favourite books, while Severus watched them closely, occasionally interjecting aggressively whenever something magical was mentioned.  
When the train stopped, they all shuffled out and met a massive hairy-looking man holding a lamp. The older students were looking at him quizzically and started moaning loudly.  
“Changed plans! Changed plans!” he bellowed, as Remus deducted this was the source of the confusion, “All years goin’ ter the boats! Make yer way to the firs’ years’ boat!”  
“That’s going to take forever!” a slim blonde sixth year complained, “My father will hear about this!”  
“Alrigh’, Malfoy,” the huge man waved him off, “tha’s the way it’s gotta be!”  
Remus turned to find Lily and Severus, but the crowd had separated them and he was all by himself in a sea of sighing students. Everyone trudged to the boats, whispering about why they couldn’t use the enchanted carriages and complaining about being squashed into boats with first years. He was lucky enough to be in a boat filled with only first years and no grumpy seniors.  
As they drifted on the lake towards the magnificent castle overhead, they all took turns to introduce themselves. There was Pasiphae Heartling, a very pretty girl with short brown hair, Peter Pettigrew who appeared to speak in murmurs and mumbles, Henry Crabbe, Jenny Setzkorn who only stopped spewing facts about Hogwarts to introduce herself, and Joesph Benn.  
“Do you think there are fairies?” Pasiphae asked Remus as they got out of the boat.  
He merely shrugged and carried on walking up to the castle. He was becoming exceedingly miserable, the more empty conversations were directed at him. He felt lost and excluded. The scars on his face drew a lot of eyes, making him sulk even more. He just wanted to go home.  
A thin witch addressed the lot of them as soon as the seniors had made their way into the Great Hall. Remus knew it to be Professor McGonagall, according to his father’s description—she was very strict apparently and he was to take her subject seriously.   
She told them to arrange themselves in alphabetical order and there was a mass scurrying.  
“When I call your name, you will sit on the chair and I will place the Sorting Hat on your head,” she declared as everyone became silent, “Once you are sorted, you must make your way to your relevant house table.”  
The first years buzzed around him as they entered the Great Hall, gasping at the cloudy ceiling and floating candles. Professor McGonagall brought out the Sorting Hat. Once the Hall had become silent, the shabby hat burst into song:

/Four noble houses in Hogwarts stand,  
Four places for these young faces to land,  
Slytherin is home to those of cunning  
Great bloodlines there are running  
The heart of the bold belongs in Gryffindor  
Acts of courage and valour lie in store  
The Hufflepuff remains loyal and true  
But do not underestimate what they can do!  
Ravenclaws shapes the brightest minds  
Wordy witches and wizards is this house’s kind.  
So wherever in Hogwarts you find your place  
Be sure, young friends, this is the fate you chase!/

The Great Hall burst into applause and then one by one they were called up in front of the entire school. He watched a boy with long black hair, who Professor McGonagall announced as “Black, Sirius!” concentrate harder than anybody as the hat was placed on him—it seemed his head might explode at any second. It took a while before the hat shouted, “Gryffindor!” he let out a loud whoop and punched the air violently amongst the cheers. Even Professor McGonagall was a little taken aback.   
Then Remus saw the girl, Lily Evans, being sorted in Gryffindor as well. She looked a little disappointed, but a small smile played on her lips.  
Finally, it was his turn. Unafraid, he sat down on the stool as McGonagall placed the hat on his head. Honestly, Remus just counted himself lucky to be at Hogwarts, he didn’t care about the politics of houses. He was proud of himself, and he wasn’t going to let his parents down. He searched the faces of the youthful expectant students in front of him. There was no way he wasn’t going to make sure that he was safe.   
“Gryffindor!” the hat announced, upon that thought.


	3. Nimbus 900

The Headmaster rose to his feet when the last student was sorted. He appeared to be in a cheerful mood, braiding the end of his beard as he prepared to speak. The entire Hall became quiet as he looked at all the new faces from the podium.  
“Welcome to Hogwarts!” he announced, “To both new and returning students, welcome! I apologise about the transport situation earlier and I’m afraid I cannot do you further injustice by keeping you from your meal. Enjoy!”  
James Potter’s eyes grew three times their sizes as heaping piles of roast potatoes, lamb chops, assorted pies and chicken appeared in front of him. For a second, he was so overwhelmed that he forgot that he could move. Sirius nudged him in his side.  
“Alright, James?” he chewed a hearty mouthful of Yorkshire pudding.  
“I—I—Is this real?” he stuttered as he ventured to reached for a single chip, “Merlin’s Flying Socks, I’ve died and gone to Heaven.”  
Sirius nearly had water coming out through his nose when James began to eat. The pile of food on his plate was taller than him and James had scoffed it all down in less than ten minutes. He reached for more when suddenly the food disappeared. His heart sank, but he quickly resumed scooping up things when it was replaced with deserts of every kind—apple pie, treacle tart, jam doughnuts and jelly.  
After tucking into the delicious puddings and listening to Dumbledore’s longer speech, the first years were asked to follow the prefects. James quickly found Sirius in the line and squashed himself behind him. A decent poke told Sirius he was there.  
“Wait ‘til my mother hears about this!” Sirius beamed as he and James were led to the Gryffindor common room, “My cousin already gave me a nasty look when I sat down at the table.”  
“Who’s your cousin?” James asked.  
“Silence back there!” the prefect, Bertram Aubrey called when they all stopped in front of a portrait of a fat lady.  
“Narcissa,” Sirius whispered from the corner of his mouth, “The one in Slytherin that looked like a cat died on her head. She’s the worst. And she always smells like soup.”  
The Fat Lady glossed over the new comers and nodded in approval. Only managing to stifle his laughter for so long, the whole line of first years spun around to watch James Potter clutching his stomach and howling. The boy behind him also started laughing softly.  
“Oi!” Bertram marched up to them, “I thought I said no talking! Who are you two?”  
“James,” he burst out laughing and then took a deep breath, “Potter!”  
Sirius was pinching his lips together in an effort not to join his friend, which seemed more effective, but the prefect’s gaze drilled into the boy behind Potter. He stopped laughing immediately.  
“Uh, Peter Pettigrew,” he squeaked, “Please, I’m so sorry.”  
Bertram folded his arms, “Well, I’ll be giving your names to Professor McGonagall and the new caretaker, Argus Filch, with the suggestion to look out for you.”  
And with that remark he turned on his heel and walked back to the front of the line. James wiped the tears from his eyes with a soft chuckle before punching Sirius in the back playfully. They both noticed Lily Evans glaring at them as if they had just performed an Unforgivable Curse, which made not giggling even harder.  
“Right,” continued another prefect, “You need a password to get into the common room. This week’s is ‘Hippogriff’. It changes every now and then, so keep your ears open for announcements and don’t forget the passwords.”  
“Do you think the password was once ‘password’?” Sirius murmured to James.  
Once again, the prefects were interrupted by a fit of hooting down the line. Betram’s ears were beginning to turn red.  
“Potter!” he yelled, “So help me—”  
“It’s not his fault,” Remus Lupin suddenly exclaimed five people up from the snickering James, “I saw someone—uh, a Slytherin I think—hit him with a Cheering Charm.”  
The two black-haired boys squinted at him. This wasn’t even remotely true, and if truth be told, Sirius considered his jokes way better than any charm. Remus widened his eyes at them and they quickly understood. He turned back to the prefects.  
“What do you know about Cheering Charms?” Bertram sneered.  
Lupin shrugged, “That they can go wrong and lead to uncontrollable laughter?”  
The girl prefect standing next to Bertram stepped forward, “Then which Slytherin? Describe him.”  
Lupin suddenly coloured and remembered the only boy he had noticed in Slytherin colours, “He was tall. Straight blonde hair and he, er, complains a lot.”  
The prefects found this a rather amusing description of Lucius Malfoy and let it slide, with a promise to let Potter off.

The boys separated from the girls as they entered the common room and moved up to their dormitories. Remus found himself sharing with Sirius and James as a thanks for getting them out of trouble, as well as the small boy who had laughed, Peter Pettigrew. A reluctant boy, Seth Abbadus, showed up and joined their dorm because he had nowhere else to go. Anyone could see the fear plastered on his face.  
“Why’d you do that?” Sirius’s eyes were alight with curiousity.  
Remus paused unpacking his things, “I don’t know. You two looked like you needed some help or something.”  
“Check this out!” yelled James as he leapt on Peter’s bed and knocked everything clean off it.  
He laid down a sleek and shiny broom that had ‘Nimbus 900’ etched in black on the handle. Peter gasped in delight, while the other three made their way over to the bed. It was the exact broom that Sirius was staring at in the shop in Diagon Alley.  
“That’s the latest one!” Peter exclaimed.  
Sirius scanned it from handle to tail and then looked up, “We should test it out.”  
Remus did a double-take at him, “Test it out? Where?”  
By now, James was already grinning with intent and leapt off the bed with enough time to mount the broom. He sped around the limited bedroom and nearly knocked Seth’s head off three times. Seth was even beginning to wonder if he was doing it on purpose.  
“Think about it, Remus!” Sirius spread out his arms, “We’re in a gigantic castle, and if memory serves no one said anything about testing out brooms after hours.”  
“I think Professor Dumbledore—” Peter started.  
Sirius jumped at him excitedly and grasped his shoulders with both hands, “He said no walking around at night, not flying! Are we not Gryffindors?”  
Remus weighed the pros and cons of the situation in his head. Sirius had a point, and James looked like he was having so much fun on that Nimbus… It was the latest one. Technically, when he promised his parents he’d be responsible he wasn’t talking about this.  
“I’m in,” smiled Remus.  
James punched his fist in the air in approval, and Peter nodded a little hesitantly. But Seth announced he wasn’t going by pulling the blankets over his head and ignoring any remarks cast at him. Eventually the four of them gave up trying to convince him and tiptoed downstairs and through the portrait on their very first night at Hogwarts.  
James gave Remus a go on the Nimbus first because he still considered himself in debt for the Cheering Charm stunt. He wove in and out of the moving stairs, the wind rushing past him delightfully. The others slid down the banisters, trying to catch up with him, but he was having too much fun to notice.  
Playing with other children—how had his parents denied him this great joy? When he dove to the bottom of all the stairs, he jumped off the handle and fell clumsily against the wall. No one seemed to be paying any attention to the noise they were making.  
James ran up to him eagerly, “Wow, you’re not bad, even though you almost killed yourself doing that spin!”  
Peter looked from James to Remus and made a grab for the broom, “I want to go next.”  
Remus instinctively put it behind his back, “You have flown before, right?”  
“Of course!” he went pink, “Just watch me!”  
He snatched the broom from him and go on to it with a lot of wobbling.  
“Wait you’re holding it wrong,” said James, grabbing the tail.  
Suddenly it shot forward at full speed down the corridor with James clinging onto it for dear life. Peter was screeching as they zipped around a turn. All the portraits began waking up, scolding them as they broke so kind of speed record. James yelled as he saw the end of the corridor and no sign of them slowing down.  
CRASH!  
Remus and Sirius had finally caught up. The broom was snapped in two and Peter and James lay unconscious in between various parts of a suit of armour. A thought barely escaped Sirius’s head when teachers they had not even met yet came rushing from all directions in their pajamas and dressing gowns. A plump matronly-looking woman rushed to the unconscious boys.  
“What’s going on—” Professor McGonagall gasped at James and Peter, “Black! Lupin! Explain this at once!”  
They stood staring at her awkwardly for a minute before Sirius smiled weakly.  
“Cheering Charm?” he said tentatively

The two boys watched James and Peter being carried off in stretchers that floated by themselves. Argus Filch, a greasy, skinny man ran after them carrying the two pieces of the Nimbus 900 awkwardly. They reluctantly turned back and met the awful stare of Professor McGonagall.  
She refused to utter a word, she was so angry, but instead made a very suppressed gesture for them to follow her. Remus and Sirius exchanged desperate looks. They didn’t mean to get into trouble when the school term had not even begun, but without protest or chatter, they followed the teacher.  
She lead them to a gargoyle statue and stated, “Sugar Quills!”  
The statue moved out of the way and revealed a spiraling stone staircase. At the top of it, they were faced with an ominous door that they both knew to belong to the Headmaster’s office. Sirius, who had not met Professor Dumbledore yet, feared the worst. He was having the time of his life and now he might be sent home without having waved his wand once.  
Professor McGonagall told them to wait as she entered the room to explain what had happened, but the two boys were so frightened that they didn’t even speak to each other when she left them alone. After what seemed like five minutes, she reappeared and held the door open for them.  
Remus was the first to enter, with Sirius clutching his elbow behind him. They examined the room—it had one or two strange whirring instruments and next to the desk sat an impressive multi-coloured bird. A man with a silver beard was stroking its feathers. He was wearing pajamas with tiny butterbeer corks patterned all over them.  
When he noticed them come in, he sat down behind the desk and gestured to the two seats in front of him.  
“Please, Sirius, Remus,” he smiled, “have a seat.”  
They sat down quickly. Albus Dumbledore picked up a piece of paper on his desk and examined it for so long that they thought he had forgotten about them. The whirring instruments distracted them for a second, before Dumbledore’s soft voice won their attention.  
“Professor McGonagall tells me you two, including the young James Potter and Peter Pettigrew had a late night adventure of the flying nature,” he grinned, but did not stop looking at the paper, “It says here that she suggests a double detention for all four of you as soon as the other two recover. My, my.”  
“Sir, I can explain!” interjected Sirius.  
Remus was in disbelief. The only thing could explain was how they blatantly decided to zoom around Hogwarts on a Nimbus 900.  
Dumbledore laughed, “I’m sure you can, Sirius, but unfortunately no matter the reason, you still broke several school rules. In fact, I’m considering enforcing another.”  
“Another?” asked Remus.  
“Yes,” pondered Dumbledore, “Something along the lines of ‘All first years are reminded that they are not allowed to possess brooms.’ What do you think?”  
Sirius opened his mouth in protest, but Dumbledore’s gentle gaze confronted him and he fell silent. The phoenix twittered a little as he fell asleep.  
“I’m going to deny your double detentions this time in the spirit of, well, good fun,” he continued merrily, “but this is the only warning you’ll get I’m afraid. Professor McGonagall won’t like it if I step in again, so please, Sirius, Remus, try not… to get caught.”  
There was a twinkling in his eye as he said the last few words, which made Sirius and Remus grin. The Headmaster somehow understood what it was like to be an excited eleven-year old in a new school. He cleared his throat and sat back to examine the two boys in front of him, who reminded him a little of himself when he was their age.  
“Ah, what a welcome to Hogwarts! I always say each year must start with some sort of bang. Now, off you go, Sirius. I don’t want you tired for your first day at school,” Dumbledore hummed, “Remus, while I’ve got you here, we might as well have a word.”  
The very sentence made Remus cringe visibly and Sirius saw. He hesitated to get out of his chair as he looked from Dumbledore to Remus and back again.  
“Sir, it wasn’t his fault,” he protested, “I’m more to blame than him. I mean, Remus tried to stop—”  
Dumbledore put his hand up to calm the panicked boy, “I am quite aware. Don’t worry, your friend is in no trouble. Go on back to bed, now.”  
Sirius searched Remus’s face which was now pale and facing downward intently.  
“Professor Dumbledore, sir,” he started up again, “I won’t leave him. Remus is my friend.”  
The boy immediately met Sirius’s eyes as if he had been jolted by a lightning bolt. There had to be something in his ears, or had he actually heard someone call him their friend? Dumbledore smiled.  
“And I am sure Remus is incredibly grateful for your loyalty—”  
“Prof—”  
“It’s alright, Sirius,” Dumbledre’s tone suddenly became more assertive.  
Sirius looked back at Lupin, without a single intention to get up unless he was dismissed by Remus himself. Remus understood this from his searching facial expression. He smiled at Sirius Black. He had never considered himself good at making friends, perhaps because he never had the opportunity, but he realized he already had three friends, plus Lily and Severus, and it had only been one day.  
Remus nodded lightly.  
Sirius got up with two glances back, and exited the office. He passed the gargoyle statue, looked left and right and then frowned. What possible business did Remus Lupin have with the Headmaster of Hogwarts?  
Shaking the thought from his head, he spun around to walk back to the Gryffindor common room when he walked straight into something huge and soft. He bounced off the stomach of Hagrid, landing on the floor.  
“Sorry, there!” the middle-aged game-keeper reached forward to pick him up, “Blimey, gotta watch where I’m goin’ these days. Nearly tipped a boat over this evenin’ too!”  
Sirius gawked at the size of the man. He had never seen a giant before, but it could only be a giant standing in front of him.  
“Yeh mus’ be Sirius Black!” he expressed amusement, “Heard all the teachers talkn’ of yeh four. You got a reputation ‘fore the term even starts. Now, tha’s impressive, eh? Flyin’ a broom in the castle.”  
He wasn’t sure what to say. The giant obviously seemed quite done over with the Nimbus 900 stunt, which immediately put him in Sirius’s good books. He had never met a giant before, but this one didn’t seem so bad.  
“If you’re here to see Professor Dumbledore, he’s busy—talking to someone,” Sirius shrugged.  
Hagrid mulled this news over, “Hm. I’ll come back ‘nother time then. Not tha’ this can wait.”  
“Not that what can wait?” asked Sirius.  
“Never yeh mind,” said Hagrid who seemed to be shooing him off now, “Firs’ years don’ need to know ‘bout dragons and—”  
“Dragons?” squealed Sirius.  
Hagrid’s eyes widened, “I didn’ say tha’! I didn’ say tha’! Get back to bed, ‘fore I call Filch!”  
Not wanting a repeat of Dumbledore’s lecture, Sirius sprinted off, still a little curious about Remus and now, why dragons were relevant to the school. He sped up the stairs, panted the password and then scurried off to bed. He could hear the snores of Seth Abbadus, and Remus sneaking in an hour later.


	4. Love & Thestrals

James Potter sat chewing his cereal very loudly. His mouth was full to the point of bursting, and already he held another spoonful waiting to be shoved in. The other arm rested in a cast on his lap—while Madam Pomfrey had given him several gulps of Skelegro, the bones still need time to solidfy and McGongall made it quite clear that only death would warrant him missing his first day. James agreed whole-heartedly, and although tears sprung to his eyes whenever he bumped the arm, he refused to admit that it hurt in the slightest.  
Peter got off without injuries to everyone’s surprise. This made him feel even worse, and increased the intensity of his apologies tenfold. All three of them forgave him easily and were laughing about it in no time at all.  
“So, what’d Professor Dumbledore want?” Sirius asked Remus who was sitting opposite him.  
He dropped his hand quickly and accidentally flipped his bowl of oatmeal onto the toast.  
“Oh, sorry,” he apologized to no one in particular and busied himself trying to clean up the mess, “He—we, I mean, I have to visit my mother. She’s sick. Dragonpox. Next week. I mean, she’s not going to be sick next week. I’m just going to go visit next week.”  
The loud crunching emitted from James’s cheeks came to a pause as all three of them frowned at Remus. He glanced up and smiled nervously.  
“So don’t you guys wonder what happened to the Thestrals?” Remus proposed.  
“What’s a Thestral?” asked Peter.  
He breathed a sigh of relief when James resumed chewing merrily.  
‘Oh, the creatures that pull the carriages,” he explained, “Everyone thinks they’re enchanted, but that’s just because you can’t see them if you haven’t seen death.”  
“That’s depressing,” moaned Sirius, and then met Remus’s gaze, “So like can they see each other? Does the rule apply to them too? Can they see themselves in a mirror?”  
James gulped down another spoonful, “I overheard a seventh year say that she overheard Hagrid, the new gamekeeper, say that he overheard the Care of Magical Creatures teacher say to Dumbledore that one attacked him.”  
“That—that doesn’t seem too reliable,” Peter interjected.  
Remus shrugged, “Well, all the seniors seemed pretty upset. Seems like it never happens around here, or at least for a long time.”  
“Do you think they can see their babies when they give birth?” asked Sirius, “Or do they think it’s just a really bad fart?”  
They hushed their conversation as Professor McGonagall glided past handing out their timetables for the year. Although she didn’t say anything, she gave them a stern glance to tell them she hadn’t forgotten about the night before. It was Professor Dumbledore who stopped her from docking fifty points from Gryffindor, as he reminded her that the year had not even started yet.  
Sirius examined his for a single second and then put it down, frowning, “That gamekeeper said something about dragons last night too.”  
“There aren’t any dragons at Hogwarts, Sirius,” James laughed at him, in between spoonfuls, “Which class are you the most excited about?”  
“Ooh, Charms,” Peter grinned.  
Remus was the only one who seemed to register what Sirius was saying. He had always been fascinated with magical creatures, being the son of a Non-human Magical Apparitions Expert, but he was also generally paranoid of the creature community. The idea that a vampire was going to spring out from inside his porridge and attack him seemed like a very probable situation.  
“What about dragons?” he asked solemnly, taking a sip of water.  
Sirius scratched his chin, “He wouldn’t tell me. I mean, something weird is happening. Thestrals, dragons… Next thing you know, it’ll be werewolves.”  
He did a spit-take with all the water violently spraying on Peter and Sirius. Choking, he wiped his mouth quickly and desperately fumbled to put the glass down.  
“Bug,” Remus managed to pronounce through his suffocation.  
Sirius glared at him fixedly. The whole Great Hall was snickering at the two soaking boys, even James was coughing up cereal. Suddenly, Sirius grabbed the jug of pumpkin juice and chucked its contents on Remus. It made a horrible splattering noise and all the students went silent. Was being soaked by pumpkin juice equal to being soaked with water?  
He paused.  
“Okay, I deserved that,” he wiped the juice from his eyes eventually.  
“Ten points from Gryffindor!” shrieked McGonagall from down the table.  
A domino effect of moaning echoed from their peers. There was really nothing they could do but endure the disappointment they caused. If only they knew that Gryffindor had nearly started the term in negative numbers they might be a little grateful it was only ten points.  
“You know, you could be more considerate,” Lily chipped in as she walked past them.  
Sirius scrunched up his face and sang, “You know, you could be more considerate!”  
She spun around. Sirius Black had never really looked at Lily Evans properly, but now, with her bright green eyes hot with anger, he wondered how everything else on her face really mattered.  
“How did you get into Hogwarts?” she said, “You can be older than three!”  
“Oi, don’t talk to my friends like that, Evans!” James spun around.  
“What are you going to do, Potter?” she folded her arms, “Break your other arm trying to lift your wand?”  
“James! Sirius!” Remus warned, still dripping in pumpkin juice, “we’ve already lost ten points—”  
But before he could finish his sentence, Severus Snape came to Lily’s defense from the Slytherin table. Professor McGonagall hardly took a step in their direction before four wands were drawn and pointed aggressively at each other.  
“Enough!” she scolded them as she ran up to the lot, “All my life I never—another ten points from Gryffindor! Ten from Slytherin too, Snape. And you two, Potter and Black—so help me—detention! What on Earth were you planning on doing? You hardly know how to sneeze magically!”  
She stood with her hands on her hips until they all put their wands away. James and Sirius had hardly spent twenty-four hours inside the school grounds and already, they had managed to cause more commotion than a giant in a china shop. McGonagall sighed. This was going to a very long seven years.

Lily stalked out of Hall behind Snape, who was equally as miserable. She felt dreadfully sorry for the girl who would one day marry that arrogant toerag, James Potter—as for Sirius, well, he was a lost cause, she thought.  
The Great Hall began to clear out. Lessons were about to commence.  
James, Remus, Sirius and Peter followed the rest of their house’s first years to Defense Against the Dark Arts—two of them sopping wet, one smelling like a pumpkin and one with his arm in a cast, and ready for their very first magical lesson.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was taught by the latest addition to the Hogwarts staff, Professor Dlamini. Every wizard-born student had seen the previous week’s Daily Prophet by now, which read in big, unforgiving letters, DUMBLEDORE HIRES A FIRED HAS-BEEN. The article was a bit vague, announcing that Mpho Dlamini had been kicked out of his previous school, Ugadou School of Magic, for reasons unknown. The whole wizarding community was highly suspicious of this because he seemed like such a nice man. ‘It’s the nice ones we have to watch,’ said the article.  
The first years, however, were more excited about taking their first magical lesson, than the reputation of the man teaching them. If he was good enough for Dumbledore, he was good enough for them. They tiptoed into the lofty classroom excited as the young wizard beamed at them. He didn’t look older than forty.  
“They say he killed a student because they didn’t do his homework,” Peter whispered to James.  
“I heard he’s a vampire,” murmured a girl behind them.  
He waited for the children to stop chattering, but didn’t say anything. He just kept smiling foolishly, until a good fifteen minutes had gone by and he had to clear his throat to get their attention. The buzzing only became softer, but did not go away completely. Professor Dlamini sighed, and made do with it.  
“Good-morning, children,” he sang sunnily, “Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Now, I know this class has a reputation—”  
The mumbling started up again.  
“—of dealing with scary, or dangerous, subject matter,” he continued over the noise, “but on the contrary! Who can tell me the best way to fight Dark forces?”  
Four hands shot up and did not wait for Professor Dlamini to even call on them.  
“Dueling!”  
“Stupefy!”  
“Clever tactics!”  
“Dungbombs!”  
The class burst out laughing at the last answer. Dlamini waited another fifteen minutes for them to settle down and then made his way over to his desk, where a chest rested. Everyone was out of their seats in anticipation when he lifted out a single photograph of two boys, one had his arm around the other.  
“Why, Love and Friendship,” he smiled.  
For the first time since they entered the class there was complete silence. What did he even mean, Love and Friendship? The confused tension only grew as the blank stares turned to frowns, but Professor Dlamini met them with a perfectly unhindered grin.

“What a load of Pegasus dung!” Sirius exclaimed as they walked out of the classroom, “And we have to deal with this for seven years?”  
“Right?” James chipped in, “Merlin’s Beard, maybe he got kicked out of Ugadou for trying to kiss Grindelwald.”  
“Yeah, I’ll make it a goal to propose to the next werewolf I meet,” Sirius scoffed.  
Remus and Peter laughed uncontrollably, Remus more out of nervousness than anything else. They made their way to the Transfiguration classroom, where they were expecting to get another detention, or inspire another rule that all future generations would hate them for.  
But they strode into the classroom, and McGonagall wasn’t there, but instead a cat sat on her desk, watching the students as they entered. The cat leapt into the air and transformed into the stern looking witch which earned a shrilly scream from James.  
“Calm down, Potter,” she said dismissively, “or have you forgotten about the magic part of Hogwarts?”  
He flushed read while his three friends snickered behind his back.  
Peter stared out of the high-arching windows while he waited for the lesson to begin. A small smile formed in the corner of his mouth. Both he and Lupin had never had friends before, but he was a little different. All the children in Ottery St. Catchpole hated him and made fun of him every time he tried to prove himself. The smile etched on his face was almost one of disbelief that he had finally found a place to belong so easily.  
They had transfiguration with Ravenclaw, and everyone was feeling immensely pressured. But to their relief, McGonagall declared that they put their wands away and that it would not be a practical lesson. With a wave of her wand, strange symbols appeared on the board.  
“Copy the magical alphabet down and then we will go through it,” she paced down the rows of desks, “Magic is an elegant art form and to get it right, you need to start from the beginning—the basics. We need to understand how we are transfiguring objects before you start turning pigs into desks.”  
She tolerated no rowdiness, in contrast with Professor Dlamini, which James and Sirius found totally tedious, but they dared not cough in the wrong direction, feeling her hawk-like eyes upon them.  
Suddenly, much to everyone’s amazement Sirius put up his hand. It was mostly out of boredom if anything.  
“Professor McGonagall,” he asked, “Where are the Thestrals?”  
Ninety percent of the class was bewildered, but Remus looked at McGonagall expectantly. She was taken aback.  
“I wasn’t aware you knew what Thestrals were, Black,” she shook her head and then saw his other three friends waiting for answer, “All four of you?”  
“Well, we were talking about it at breakfast,” explained Sirius, “Remus explained what they are, and I’ve sort of been worrying about them every since.”  
McGonagall paused her walking through the aisles, “Worry about—? Why are you talking about Thestrals? You should be worrying about copying down the alphabet.”  
“But, Professor, where are they?” he asked earnestly.  
She wanted to ignore him and scold him into doing his work, but Minerva McGonagall believed that it was a sincere question. There was always room in Transfiguration for questions, especially for those who really wanted to know.  
“I’m afraid we are unsure, Mr. Black,” she nodded, “but we have Hagrid and an expert Magizoologist looking for them. There is absolutely no need to worry about it.”  
The four boys exchanged disappointed glances with each other and resumed copying down the shapes and squiggles on the board.  
“Did you see the way she just changed from being a cat?” cried Peter as they left, “I wonder how it feels to change forms…”  
“Horrible,” groaned Remus and then he added, “apparently.”

The first half of the week was met with extreme enthusiasm, but as the boys got accustomed to History of Magic they were sleeping in class at least once a day. In every lesson, teachers gave them the ‘basic knowledge’ speech and they would spend hours copying down theory.  
“I just want to do some magic!” James moaned, flicking his wand around.  
The time came for Remus to visit his mother and he left quite sneakily without a goodbye. They thought he’d only be gone for one day, and were quite upset to find out otherwise. Seth was quite relieved, as it meant that he only had to deal with three voices talking until one in the morning instead of four.  
“I just want Remus to come back!” moaned James, flopping himself onto Lupin’s bed.  
The still talked about the Thestrals and wondered about the dragons over breakfast, lunch and supper. It was only James who really didn’t say anything on the topic, but that was because his mouth was so full of food all the time. And when it wasn’t full of food…  
“I just want some treacle tart!” he moaned, rolling on the common room floor.  
“Merlin’s Beard, James!” Sirius finally yelled, “I am going to hex your eyebrows off if you don’t stop complaining.”  
“I’d like to see that,” James laughed.  
“Calvorio!”  
All James’s hair fell out immediately, up to and including his eyebrows. They looked up and saw Remus pointing his wand immediately.  
“REMUS!” yelled the completely bald eleven year old, “I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU!”  
He launched himself at him with the intention to tackle, but stopped in his tracks when he cowered away weakly. There was three healing gashes that ran parallel on his cheek. Sirius and Peter opened their mouths, but could not find the correct question to ask.  
“Sorry,” he exhaled, “Get me back another time, will you? Crescapillia!”  
Hair rapidly sprouted out from James’s face and didn’t stop until it was fourteen inches long, but no one laughed. After unsuccessfully waiting for them to stop studying him, he limped back up the stairs to the dorm where he slept for the remainder of the Saturday.


	5. The Hallowe'en Howler

Amongst all the unnatural things present in the Great Hall—floating candles with blue flames, an enchanted ceiling, toads hopping into the food—the strangest thing was James Potter not shoveling pie into his mouth. He kept fidgeting with his spoon subconsciously while studying Remus with a fixed frown. He watched him spoon soup into his mouth, trembling until there was barely anything left on the spoon by the time it got his mouth.  
Peter had alerted Madam Pomfrey the second Remus fell asleep upon returning, and was only offered a pleasant smile and a hesitant ‘He’ll be alright, Mr. Pettigrew.’  
It was clearer then the enchanted ceiling that the boy didn’t want to talk about it. Any hint whatsoever of them noticing his wounds only made him exit the room, so it wasn’t long before Peter and James gave up asking. Sirius seemed to be completely oblivious to the entire situation.  
Peeves, the poltergeist, with his shocking apparel swooped around the room mercilessly throwing exploding crackers at unsuspecting students and had taken to chanting “Loony Loopy Lupin! Loony Loopy Lupin!” which didn’t seem to bother Remus in the slightest.  
This was the reason James couldn’t enjoy his Sunday lunch.  
His facial expression lightened when a pretty Slytherin student came to sit down closely next to Sirius. She had deep brown curls that swooped in every direction possible and a pale face brightened by her rosy cheeks. Even though he tried very hard to fight it off, she planted a huge kiss on Sirius’s cheek.  
“How’s my little star doing?” she beamed.  
“Dromeda,” he blushed, “don’t call me that in front of my friends.”  
She chuckled and looked around, “Ah, if the rumours have done you three justice, you must be Potter, Pettigrew and Lupin?”  
They all nodded shyly.  
“The sixth years know our names?” Sirius’s mouth fell open.  
Andromeda chuckled heartily, “You must be kidding, Siri. Everyone knows about you four getting the ban on first year broom possession. I told them all, of course, that you’re my cousin.”  
“I suppose they’re not mad—” James began.  
“Because they’re not first years,” she grinned, “I think ‘impressed’ is more how I’d describe the reaction.”  
James blushed. She was really very pretty, and to think she was related to Narcissa, who had the constant expression of just being dunked in ice water.  
“I told you mother I’d look out for you,” she said, as she fussed over his collar, “so, I must ask… Have you told them you’ve been sorted into Gryffindor?”  
Sirius hesitated and then looked up, “I wrote on Friday. I expect a howler tomorrow.”  
And sure enough the next day, as the owls flew over the tables and packages landed in everyone’s eggs, Sirius Black sat examining the envelope as he stroked his owl, Cetus.  
“Well, you better get it over with before it explodes,” mumbled James, his cheeks bulging with food.  
Shutting his one eyes, he broke the Black seal with his index finger. The next couple of minutes seemed to be a blur of ear-piercing yelling.  
“—MY OWN FLESH AND BLOOD A GRYFFINDOR?! YOUR FATHER AND I ARE EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED—HAVE NO DOUBT THE HEADMASTER WILL HEAR FROM US! A GRYFFINDOR ABONMINATION! MY OWN SON! YOU WERE NOT BORN INTO THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK TO BE SORTED INTO ANYTHING BUT SLYTHERIN! FILTH!”  
On that note, it burst into flames and the ash fell on the table.  
“Is it over?” asked Marlene, a girl sitting next to Lily Evans who was covering her ears.  
An awkward silence fell over the Great Hall as everyone waited and watched how Sirius would react to such heavy abuse. Professor Dumbledore had paused with a goblet in his hands. They saw Sirius’s blank expression slowly form into a twisted smile, until he snatched up a piece of the howler and gave it a kiss.  
“I’m sticking this on my freakin’ wall,” he grinned, gathering up the burnt pieces, “Anyone know how to do a permanent sticking charm?”  
He looked up and found the Black sisters staring at him, Narcissa was giving him the stink eye, but Andromeda was merely shaking her head with a smile.

Professor Flitwick, a short man with a friendly disposition, stood in front of the Charms class and demonstrated with his wand. Swish and flick. Peter gracelessly imitated him and looked more like he was trying to get something sticky off of his wand.  
“The incantation is ‘Windgardium Leviosa’,” he instructed, “Now, everyone give it a try. Levitate the feathers on your desk.”  
He seemed pleased as they all attempted their first spell—not a single feather even moved. James clenched his jaw with a half a mind to throw a tantrum. Why wouldn't it move for him? This was the first bit of real magic he got to do and he couldn't get a hang of it.  
And then out of nowhere, a desk came flying straight at him. He ducked as it crashed into the wall. The feather still resting peacefully on top of it.  
Flitwick spun on his heel in amazement.  
“Who did that?” he asked, but no one answered, “By Merlin, who did that?”  
Lily Evans, got up slowly, pink-faced and looking down. A wave of sighs passed through the classroom, expecting Gryffindor to lose another set of points. Flitwick shook his head.  
“Twenty points to Gryffindor!” he beamed.  
“Wha—what?” she stammered.  
“My dear, you levitated an extremely heavy object on your first try! Well done!” he praised, “Excellent indeed! This time however I want you to levitate the feather and not the desk. Exceptional energy, Lily, just work on your focus now.”  
“Yeah,” James chipped in, “Focus on trying not to kill me.”  
She pulled a face at him and then sat down. Only Peter had succeeded in making his feather float by sheer luck when the lesson had concluded. Much to their dismay, this now meant that the three of them had a lot of homework after the Hallowe'en Feast.  
Sirius had taken to hiding in several giant pumpkins over the course of the day and jumped out at Severus Snape every chance he got. By the time it had come for the Feast, James and Peter's sides hurt from Severus's petrified look whenever he approached a pumpkin, clutching his books tightly. Remus didn't find it as funny and tried to smile at Severus, but it seemed that their meeting on the Hogwarts Express was long forgotten and replaced with the fact that he associated with James, Peter and Sirius.  
It was all good fun, James had explained, but Remus didn't like it.  
The Hallowe'en Feast was one of the most exciting events at Hogwarts-some students even preferred it over the Christmas Feast. Dumbledore had booked The Traveling Bat Circus this year and the whole inside of the Great Hall was enchanted to look like the inside of a haunted circus tent. Halfway through the performance, some bats decided to attack Jenny Setzkorn who then vowed she would never attended another Hallowe'en Feast no matter what the entertainment was.  
They expected James to have a hernia when he saw all the candy - blood lollipops, pumpkin marshmallows, chocolate cauldrons - but he just grinned and popped a Toffee Tombstone into his mouth. James only truly wanted to faint when he saw the steaming steak and kidney pie appear in front of him.  
"I'm surprised you haven't passed out from all the sweets," laughed Andromeda, as she walked up to them and ruffled Sirius's hair.  
He ducked away, embarrassed, but still quickly gave her a hug and a naughty grin. The boy standing next to her, blonde and a little pudgy, smiled back at the three boys. Sirius shook his hand enthusiastically, recognizing him immediately. It was Edward Tonks, Andromeda's best friend one year above her- and much to the dismay of the family, a Hufflepuff half-blood. She was the original inspiration for Sirius to have friends defiantly.  
"I think they've probably still got leftovers from the trolley on the train," he nudged Andromeda.  
"That is," James lifted his head, pretending to be offended, "one hundred percent true."  
Everyone laughed, and although the two seniors were in totally different Houses, they joined the boys at their table. The initial feelings that James had harboured towards Slytherins where beginning to fade, but the same couldn't be said for everyone. Most of the Gryffindors looked at Andromeda like she a mangled piece of candy.  
"Oh, you get used to it," she said lightly, noticing that James was throwing dirty looks back at the sneering Gryffindors, "Slytherin has its perks. For instance, almost everyone believes that you will strangle them with a snake if they are nasty to your Hufflepuff cinnamon roll."  
"And would you?" Tonks laughed.  
She put a candied frog leg in her mouth, "Oh, yeah. Without hesitation."  
"I wanted to be in Slytherin," Peter admitted, "but the Sorting Hat said I had too much Gryffindor potential."  
"Potential," scoffed Andromeda, "That Hat's always going on about potential. Any time now, someone's going to fall short of that dreaded potential."  
The Flying Bat Circus had to be concluded after more bats began to veer off course and fluttered around screaming students and was replaced by an eerie piano piece performed by a skeleton in a tuxedo.   
They moaned and groaned all the way back to the common room because they had to leave the Hallowe'en Feast early. The complaining became even louder as they practiced Wingardium Leviosa. It didn’t help that Peter was levitating every object in sight just to poke fun at them. Finally, giving up James set his wand down and sighed loudly.  
“Who do you thinks going to win in the Gryffindor-Slytherin match?” he asked them.  
“That’s ages away!” Sirius rolled his eyes.  
He was a little offended, “Well, you’ve got to be prepared! Right, Remus? Remus and I are going if you’re not… but you have to! It’s the first weekend of November.”  
“James,” Sirius looked at him seriously, “I don’t even know whether I plan on putting on pants tomorrow.”  
“Actually,” Remus interrupted their laughter, “I won’t be able to go. I’m visiting my parents that weekend.”  
“See!” declared James defiantly, “Why can’t you be more organized like Remus? Wait, what?”  
He turned to Lupin, who was casually reading through the magical alphabet.  
“I’m visiting my parents that weekend,” he repeated, not looking up.  
Peter paused his mocking levitations and slumped into a nearby chair, evidently exhausted from all the spell work.  
“Why don’t you just go a day later?” he yawned.  
Remus flipped a page, “No.”  
They knew this was his final word on the matter and left the topic to continue their homework. They had finished at about nine o’clock—final levitating their feathers, although Remus was convinced Sirius’s only moved because he sighed so violently.  
They all crawled back to bed when Sirius took out the bits of the howler and attempted to stick it together with Spellotape. It hung lopsided above his bed as he snuggled into his Gryffindor comforter in his lion-themed pajamas that he had bought from the Merchandise Shop.


	6. Bellatrix and the Bet

Sirius Black’s corner of the dorm was decorated with Gryffindor paraphernalia until there wasn’t a single piece of the wall uncovered. The Merchendise Shop had to stop taking orders because they had run out of three months worth of stock, mostly bought by Sirius who wasn’t even that into Quidditch. Ever since James’s question he had taken to the idea of attending Quidditch match so much, that only James bested him in excitement. The blatant display of pride was simply just another excuse to annoy his cousins and parents.  
The teachers were losing their wits trying to keep James and Sirius in their seats as the Gryffindor-Slytherin match grew closer and closer. Professor Dlamini had now developed an eyebrow twitch from answering Sirius’s endless questions, ducking to avoid getting hit by Peter’s poor aim and suppressing his anger at James, who always thought it was funny to jinx his fellow class mates. Defense Against the Dark Arts was the last lesson of the day before the Quidditch match, and the class was so uncontrollable that Dlamini just let them do whatever they wanted.  
“Who do you think is gonna win?” asked Benjy Fenwick, another Gryffindor.  
“Gryffindor!” Sirius said, “How can you even ask?”  
“I don’t know,” mumbled James, “I mean as much as I hate to say it, Slytherin’s pretty strong this year. Real Quidditch players know how to read the other team.”  
Sirius was aghast, “No way. I’ll even bet three gulps of Skele-Gro that Gryffindor will win.”  
The smirk on James’s face grew, “You’re on.”  
The two boys sprinted down to the field the next morning, Sirius actually venturing to wear an actual lion suit. Nobody dared tease him about it as they had to admit that somehow it looked quite cool on the young wizard. The only problem he seemed to encounter was that he couldn't hold flags with his paws. James and Peter kept it simple and merely donned red and gold scarves with the crest painted on their cheeks.  
They found a couple of seats just in time to see the Quidditch players fly on to the pitch, clad in either red and gold or green and silver. They landed and awaited for the start of the match. Madam Hooch stood in the center of the field. They watched the tiny specks of the captains shake hands aggressively and then with a blow of the whistle, the players kicked off into the air as the four balls were released.  
“There they go!” came the voice of the commentator, Alice Fawley.  
She was being watched carefully by Professor McGonagall, who knew the girl’s tendency to get too involved in the match and forget to actually say anything at all. She was a brilliant commentator who knew a lot about Quidditch because her boyfriend was in the team, but the parts of the matches where goals were scored were only announced ten minutes later after she had snapped out of her daze.  
“And it’s Frank Longbottom with the qua—no, tossed to Dearborn,” she leaned closer, “It’s intercepted by Slytherin Chaser, Barry Overcliff! He appears to be doing the Woollongong Shimmy!”  
Alice pursed her lips together and frowned as watched the match intently. The Chaser was zig-zagging around his opponents, leaving them confused. Sirius, James and Peter were already too drawn in to notice that she had stopped talking. Overcliff was now approaching the goal posts, weaving in and out of the Gryffindor players until he raised his arm and—  
“ALICE!”  
“Oh, right,” she jumped up, “Ten points to Slytherin as Overcliff scores! Only four minutes into the match!”  
The Slytherin crowd went wild with chants and screams. The other three Houses' boos overpowered the their minor celebration. James raised his eyebrows mockingly at the little lion sitting next to him.  
“So what?” scoffed Sirius, “It’s just ten points.”  
True to his statement, the quaffle found itself being through the Slytherin hoop thrice in fifteen minutes following the ten points. By then, Alice Fawley was completely deaf to McGonagall’s shouts as she clasped her hands together during the blur of goals, only to spit out phrases like, ‘Wicked fast—Merlin’s Beard—Quaffle—Gryffindor slaying!’  
But as soon as everyone surveyed the pitch as the goal-scoring came to a slow, they all leapt up. The Gryffindor and Slytherin seeker were going head-to-head round the edge of the field. No one had noticed them until now, and the Seekers were already in the heat of the battle. Peter had forgotten how to breathe.  
“There it is!” exclaimed James, seeing the flash of gold a couple of meters from the Seekers.  
The Golden Snitch whizzed forward at top speed as the Slytherin Seeker began taking the lead.  
“ALICE!”  
“Right! The snitch has been spotted by Ellis and Amadeus!” she clutched the microphone, “Amadeus is gaining on it and—Oh no!”  
The Slytherin had taken the turn too fast and flew straight into the crowd of third-years. Tracy Ellis did not pause for sympathy. She leaned forward on her broom to gain speed, and the snitch was in her hand in no time.  
“What a high speed match!” Alice chimed, “Congratulations Gryffindor! Ellis has caught the snitch.”  
The stands roared with applause. Even James who knew this would cost him three gulps of Skele-Gro was on his feet and jumping with his arms around Peter and Sirius the Lion. Some shot red and gold sparks from their wands—one would swear that Gryffindor had just won the Quidditch World Cup.

The portrait of the Fat Lady woke up with a start. Someone had just closed the portrait so violently that it took a second for her to gain her bearings and notice the three boys in front of her. They all froze on the spot when she began blinking.  
“Sneaking out, are we?” she huffed, “I never should have agreed to be the Password-Keeper of Gryffindor. Do any of you actually sleep?”  
“Sorry,” Peter winced as James pulled him by the sleeve down the corridor.  
After a few strategic moves they found their way down the moving staircases, quietly whispering the plan. Peter fakes a stomach ache to distract Madam Pomfrey, Sirius grabs the bottle, James chugs it—and well, then they’re already in the hospital wing, so no need to be carried there. All three of them counted it as a horrible idea, but as Sirius pointed out, a bet is a bet.  
They tiptoed slowly up to the door when they heard footsteps, loud and determined. James grabbed Sirius and Peter and pulled them behind a statue of an tall witch, Circe. The footsteps came to a stop directly in front of where they were hiding.  
“Bellatrix?” Sirius exhaled.  
She was the third of the Black sisters, but she had already been out of Hogwarts for two years now. She stood facing forward as if in great thought, but even the deep wrinkle between her eyebrows did little to mar her beauty. Her mien was a little more intimidating than Andromeda, but anyone would be a fool to disagree that she was unbelievably beautiful. Sirius didn’t see this. After years of abuse from her, he counted her as one of the ugliest girls he had ever laid eyes on.  
Suddenly, she turned to the statue and reached behind it. She yanked Peter out from Circe’s robe, and James followed who was still clutching both his friends. When Bellatrix saw Sirius her expression lightened a little and then anger spread on her face beyond compare.  
“What are you doing here?” her tone was sharp, “Being good little Gryffindors?”  
“What are you doing here?” Sirius spat back.  
“Answer me!” she yelled.  
Peter burst out whimpering and it all poured out of his mouth at once, “We were trying to sneak into Madam Pomfrey’s office to steal Skele-Gro!”  
The way Sirius looked at him made all the colour drain from his face, but there was no way to undo what he had said. Bellatrix paused to assess the situation. Her face became strikingly identical to Andromeda as her expression softened.  
“You should go back to bed,” she warned.  
“Why?” asked Sirius defiantly, “I’m not listening to you. Slughorn wasn’t stupid enough to make you a prefect.”  
He braced himself, expecting her to hit him across the face, as the entire Black family did when he challenged them, but instead she gritted her teeth together and tightened her fists.  
“I said go back to bed, Sirius!” she sneered, “You may not be an exemplary member of the Noble House of Black, but you are still family and I am telling you to get out of the corridors now, or you will live to regret it!”  
Sirius and Bellatrix were having a stare-off, both seething with rage. The other two boys exchanged worried glances.  
James tugged Sirius’s arm, “C’mon, Sirius. We can get it another night. C’mon, let’s just go.”  
Sirius allowed himself to be led from her presence, not breaking his glare once.


	7. The Return of Remus Lupin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Abuse

Once or twice, Peter was sure he heard a couple of shrieks from various floors, but he didn’t want to say anything. Sirius’s delight as they ran through the darkish halls made it difficult to introduce bad news so he let it sink to the back his mind. The three boys had just about made it to the Fat Lady’s portrait when suddenly it flung open and Professor McGonagall dashed out. This was already the second time that Sirius had seen her in her tartan dressing gown—two times too many he noted. There was absolutely nowhere to hide when they gave it all up and let her see them.  
“Oh! Thank Goodness!” she hustled to push them inside, “Inside, quickly. Quickly, Pettigrew!”  
They scrambled through the portrait, all tripping into the warm common room because of McGonagall’s urgent pushes. Their instinct was to wait for their scolding, but the Professor ran straight past them to grab her hat on one of the chairs. James cleared his throat.  
“Not now, Potter,” she ordered, “All of you get to bed. We’ll deal with this in the morning.”  
“Professor, we—”  
“If you want to avoid detention, you’ll do as I say!” she called back as she climbed through the portrait deftly.  
It shut behind her and they were left in silence, save for the flickering noise of the fire. They stood there for a while before noticing that they weren’t alone. Seth Abbadus sat in an armchair, watching them and smoking a toy pipe that emitted rainbow bubbles. The awkwardness rose when he refused to say anything at all, let alone greet them.  
“Heard you can catch DroopyLung from those,” Sirius pointed at the pipe.  
Seth pulled it from his mouth, examined it and put it in again. He had dark rings under eyes and looked at if he had lived through a couple of heavy wars. The awkward silence resumed, until James broke the ice.  
“Why aren’t you sleeping, Seth?” he asked, “You, er, look pretty tired. No offense.”  
“Why are you sneaking out at night?” Seth retorted.  
“No need for attitude, mate,” James frowned, “Only asking. What’s got your knickers in a twist?”  
Seth’s eye twitched, “I haven’t slept all night. Mate. And before you ask why, I suggest you ask Remus.”  
“REMUS?!” Sirius exclaimed and sprinted up the stairs.  
He skipped every alternate step and bashed against the door. Remus didn’t even stir, but lay curled into a ball with a pillow against his face, sobbing quite loudly. It had been keeping Seth up for hours. Sirius hesitated for second, not quite expecting to have to deal with something like this and then sat on the bed. He noticed Remus’s leg was tightly bound with bandages.  
“Remus?” he whispered and the crying stopped, “Remus, are you okay? When did you get back?”  
The young boy began sobbing even more violently into the pillow, rolling onto his stomach. Sirius touched his back lightly. He had an incredible fever.  
“I just want it to stop!” he wailed into the pillow, “I didn’t ask for it! I JUST WANT IT TO STOP!”  
Sirius turned towards the door and heard the footsteps of James and Peter. Quickly, he grabbed the blanket from the edge of his bed and threw it over Remus.  
“Pretend to be asleep,” he whispered just in the nick of time.  
James and Peter made it through the door, panting, just as Remus had quieted his crying. They rested their hands on their knees in between breaths. James noticed the shape of Lupin under the blanket and nodded solemnly.  
“Sleeping?” he mouthed.  
Sirius nodded.  
“How, in the good Ministry of Magic, do you run that fast?” James murmured.  
Sirius shrugged casually, trying to mask his distress. Peter rested a hand on James’s shoulder, trying to find a way to speak in between catching his breath.  
“Listen, we should probably get to bed like McGonagall told us,” he panted, “I’m all for fun, but something…something doesn’t seem right.”  
Both Sirius and James nodded after a while.

The sun was already over the horizon and shining brightly through the windows of the boys’ dorm. Sirius had opted to skip breakfast, and Remus was still soundly asleep to the knowledge of James and Peter. When they had disappeared downstairs, Sirius ambled up towards the bed and sat cross-legged on the edge, watching him stare at nothing in particular.  
“You’re awake?” Sirius asked.  
Remus nodded solemnly and then quickly wiped a rogue tear that sped down the side of his nose. He shifted to lie on his back so that he could get a better view of the lanky boy on his bed. Sirius offered him a smile and he returned it half-heartedly.  
“Thanks for covering for me,” he sighed.  
Sirius shook his head, “Don’t mention it. I know when I’m like that I don’t really want to talk, so I thought—”  
“What do you mean,” Remus sat up slowly with a confused frown, “What do you mean when you get like that?”  
Sirius stared at him blankly and stammered, “You know, when—when you get hurt—hurt like—when someone else hurts you. Like your parents, or something. I thought—well, you always come back from home in pieces. Every time. Look at your leg. Last month it was your ear. And—and it’s dark magic, isn’t it? That they use on you.”  
Remus was lost for words—Sirius was extremely observant for his age, or perhaps, Remus realized, he was just familiar with the circumstances.  
“Sirius, do your parents hurt you? Do they use dark magic on you?” he asked somberly.  
“We all think we’re alone, but we’re not, are we?” he looked down ashamed and smiled weakly, “dark wounds don’t heal—your scars, there on your face—I have some too—”  
Before he could even finish his sentence, Remus quickly leaned forward and pulled him into a tight hug. He was unable to respond for a good minute, but then felt his eyes begin to water and he hugged Remus back.  
“Sirius, have you heard?” screeched James as he sped into the dorm.  
They let go of each other quickly, but not quickly enough for Remus to wipe his reddened eyes. There was a moment where he thought about leaving—perhaps he had interrupted a very profound conversation between them—but then again butting in was his style. The sight of his friend so upset made his stomach drop and then he knew that he had to do something, or at least help Sirius cheer him up. James jumped onto the bed and tilted his head like a bird at the sight of Remus’s sickly face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a slab of chocolate.  
“Here,” he offered, “Eat this. It will help.”  
Remus smiled uncontrollably, but the pace of the tears streaming down his face became even fiercer. Gently he broke a piece of chocolate and ate it. There was no invitation, but James didn’t need one—in a single deft movement he leapt under the blankets with Remus and thrust the whole bar of chocolate in his hand.  
“More,” James ordered playfully, “Here’s another piece.”  
“I don’t understand,” Remus said now crying more than smiling, “Why—”  
“So help me, Remus, if you’re going to ask why we’re still here when you’re being a giant baby,” James rolled his eyes, “I will personally turn you into a desk.”  
“We’re all giant babies here,” Sirius grinned, “Just yesterday James was crying because there was no more Flobberworm Fritters at supper.”  
Remus giggled a little amongst his tears and tried to dry off his face with the sleeves of his pajama shirt. Their ridiculousness helped cheer him up immensely. James had not attempted once to ask him what was wrong, and this made Remus respect him even more than when he showed them his Nimbus 900.  
“Let’s not forget about you bawling your eyes out when Slughorn asked you to make the Cure for Boils!” James retorted.  
Sirius punched James in the chest, “Point is, you’re our mate. You’re in this cult for life.”  
Remus now laughed sincerely and sniffed, “What is this cult called? The Giant Babies Society?”  
James looked up and to the side in deep thought.  
“Er, we’ll work on the name,” he gave a gentle chuckle.  
Remus sighed and leaned back against the wall.  
“So, what’s the news?” he turned to James, “You came running in here like Hogwarts was on fire.”  
The gentle smirk on his face disappear and he began fidgeting with the blankets. Peter was still downstairs finding out some more information, but James ran back to tell Sirius how close they came to vanishing off the face of the earth.  
He sat upright, “Practically the same thing. Six Kelpies escaped and somehow found their way inside the castle last night. I just heard of ten students being sent to St Mungos. Merlin’s Beard, we were lucky we didn’t run into one.”  
“I don’t know about luck,” Sirius narrowed his eyes, “I mean, remember Bellatrix? What was she doing at Hogwarts? She was acting all crazy when she realized a member of her pure-blood line was walking around.”  
Remus shook his head, “Why would Bellatrix release Kelpies in Hogwarts? Someone could have died.”  
“Well, I mean, she hangs out with a really shady crowd—you know, Malfoy and that lot,” Sirius leaned to the side and lay across James and Remus’s feet, “Although if she was alone all the time I still say that. She’s, er, not right in the head.”  
“I just hope everyone’s okay,” Remus winced at the thought of Madam Pomfrey being unable to treat students.


	8. A Sweet Christmas

A grim mood gripped Hogwarts when the news about the Kelpies spread from student to student. Even the teachers and prefects who were busy decorating the castle with mistletoe, Christmas wreaths and baubles sighed and frowned as they did so. The mystery of the Kelpies escaping puzzled them all. There was no sign of human presence when they ran out, as the stories went, the creatures had just tried to get out of the enclosure around their lake deep in the Forbbidden Forest more than ever before.  
No one understood why they had done so on that specific night, or why they had made for the school that would normally repel a Kelpie with its bright lights.  
As Christmas approached, it was only Peter who couldn’t convince his parents to let him stay. They were missing him so much that the recent letters they sent him had burst out wailing for him to come visit. He sat with his chin resting on his palms.  
“Cheer up, Peter,” James said, “It’s not like we’re going to get up to much here anyway.”  
Peter peered at him through the corner of his eyes. Total lies, he thought. This was James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin they were talking about. To expect those three not to wreak havoc during a week of total freedom , was to expect to get good marks in Potions—impractical. But he felt a lot better when upon wishing them all a miserable goodbye on Christmas Eve, James presented him with a box covered in red wrapping paper.  
“Go on, then,” he instructed.  
Peter put his bag down for a second and ripped the paper excitedly. It was a shoe box and it read ‘Maypop Magical Moccasins for the Meandering Wizard’. Peter read it again and grinned at James who was standing on his toes hoping that Peter would like it.  
“I just figured you’re always getting lost in Hogwarts and get upset when you’re late for class,” he explained, “so these help you find your way and suchlike.”  
“Thank you, James!” he beamed and then his expression fell, “I—I didn’t get you anything.”  
James rolled his eyes, and Peter understood that he didn’t want anything. They shook hands and then he turned to greet Remus and Sirius who waved back to him affectionately. He picked his bag up again, and with a final look, he went down the stairs with his new shoes in arm.  
James Potter spun on his heel to face Sirius and Remus. They were playing a match of Wizard’s Chess on James’s bed, but paused when they saw the determination on his face.  
“We have lost a valuable little soldier,” he said over-dramatically, “and it is with much regret, that we say goodbye! But in honour of Peter Pettigrew, we must carry on! We must—”  
“Can you stop yelling?” retorted Seth, who busy packing too.  
“We must do what he would have wanted us to do!” James continued, while Remus and Sirius were in sitches, “We, my dear friends, must manage some mischief!”  
They gave awful war-cries as James bowed to conclude his speech. Sirius got up and beat his chest.  
“General Potter!” he called, “I have an idea!”  
“Can you guys please stop—”  
“What is it, Sirius the Battle-Born?” James saluted him.  
He glanced fleetingly at Seth, then deciding that Seth didn’t really look like he had the energy to rat them out.  
“We should go to Honeydukes!” he roared, and then gestured to Remus, “Out battle planner has the details!”  
James turned to him expectantly.  
“Discovered a secret passage to Hogsmeade behind Gregory the Smarmy,” he shrugged with a knowing grin.  
They waited for noon when all the teachers and leftover students were eating lunch in the Great Hall. Attempting not to look sneaky, they casually walked to the fifth floor corridor and saw the bulbous statue of Gregory the Smarmy looking as smarmy as ever. Remus took out his wand and tapped the statue's bald head three times.  
“Aperto Hogsmeade,” he said confidently.  
The alcove behind the statue shuddered and the stones began to shift away to reveal a large dank tunnel. The three of them stared for a while with naughty smiles plastered on their faces, unable to believe their luck. Sirius looked at Remus.  
“You’re a bloody genius,” he said.  
Remus laughed, “This one works like the stairs. It changes all the time, so you’ve gotta say where you want to go.”  
James peered into the darkness of the tunnel, “How many places does it go?”  
“Dunno,” he shrugged, “I only know of Hogsmeade and—and that abandoned shack a little on from the village. I think it might also lead to Professor Dumbledore’s office.”  
His friends looked really impressed. They lit their wands and entered the tunnel, jumping a little when the stones began to close behind them. They shivered through it for more than fifteen minutes, but the passageway wound on into the darkness for ten more minutes. It was a miracle, Sirius thought, that James wasn’t complaining yet. Their adrenalin kept them sharp and patient—all they could think about was how good the sweets would taste.  
Eventually they reached the end and looked up. Two meters from the ground, a sliver of light escaped a trap door. There was no ladder in sight, so Sirius lifted his wand when Remus lifted his hands.  
“Wait! No!” he cried, “We have no idea where this tunnel comes out in Hogsmeade.”  
“True,” shrugged James and then signaled Sirius over, “Here, get on my shoulders.”  
Sirius climbed onto his shoulders and was now able to comfortably reach the trap door. He pushed it up gently and peered through the gap. The door opened up in some kind of greengrocer and when Sirius looked around he just saw turnips. Nobody seemed to be lurking around that specific part of the shop, but he searched around for good measure.  
“Can you hurry up?!” James wheezed, “Did you eat twelve Erumpents for breakfast this morning?”  
“Coast is clear,” he whispered down and then lifted the door a little higher.  
He stepped on James shoulders and lifted himself out of the turnip bin, falling gracelessly on the floor of The Magical Neep. He checked around again and then knocked on the bin. James told Remus to go next and Sirius helped pull him from out of the pile of vegetables. They both leaned in to grab James hands and after a couple of tries, lifted him up too.  
The boys made their way outside and spun around in the snow, delighted. The village was incredible. It appeared to be dusted lightly with snow—all the quaint cottages and houses covered in white. Mistletoe and Holly was draped in between street lamps and enchanted to flash like Christmas lights. They spotted Honeydukes across the road and didn’t need anymore instruction.  
They ran into the shop and their mouths fell open. The boys had never seen so many different colours in one place before. Children crowded over the endless shelves of chocolate and giggled excitedly as they tried of the ‘Special Effects’ sweets.  
“Merlin’s Flaming Pants,” murmured James, “Are we in heaven?”  
“I might faint,” Sirius ogled the giant boxes of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans.  
The squealed with delight and walked about the shop, taking in the sweet aromas and strange textures of the sweets. James decided to buy Remus three bars of Honeydukes Best Chocolate and Sirius a good handful of Fizzing Whizzbees as Christmas presents. For himself, he got a Chocolate Frog in the hope that he would get Falco Aesalon who was one of four cards he was missing to complete his deck.  
They saw Mrs. Flume eye them suspiciously as they left and headed for The Magic Neep, their grins wider than they had ever been. James opened his Chocolate Frog and pulled out the card. It read ‘Ptolemy’.  
“Aw, no,” he whined, “I already have this one!”  
“May I suggest buying another, Mr. Potter?”  
The froze in front of Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher who had just come out of Dogweed and Deathcap. Her usual friendly temper wasn’t there and instead she had her hands on her hips, waiting for an answer. When none came, she changed hands to hold her basket of plants.  
“First years aren’t allowed in Hogsmeade,” she scolded them gently, “and my knowledge is that you three are staying at Hogwarts this Christmas. Fifity points from Gryffindor.”  
With heavy sighs, they followed her back to the school and she didn’t waste a single step by taking them straight to McMgonagall’s office. She knocked and opened the door for the three of them to go inside.  
“What’s this?” she looked surprised.  
Albus Dumbledore, who was also in her office to borrow a book, raised his eyebrows when Sirius, James and Remus dropped into chairs, sulking.  
“Do you three want to tell Professor McGonagall what you did?” Professor Sprout asked.  
“We snuck out to Hogsmeade,” they droned in unison.  
McGonagall immediately got to her feet, her eyebrows in a furious knot. Pomona Sprout nodded.  
“I’ve already taken fifty points, Minerva,” she declared.  
Professor McGonagall looked like she was ready to explode. She had handed out so many detentions to these boys, especially James and Sirius, that it was driving her crazy. But Hogsmeade? They had gone to Hogsmeade? Albus smiled as he put a hand on her shoulder. She sat down, still unable to form words out of rage.  
“Always you three,” he laughed, “So, Mr. Potter, would you mind sharing how you got to Hogsmeade?”  
James searched Remus and Sirius for answers, but they all knew they were good as dead if they led.  
“The secret passageway behind Gregory the Smarmy, sir,” he mumbled.  
Dumbledore smiled, “Thank you for your honesty, Mr. Potter. Pomona, would you be so kind as to alert Filch to the existence of the passage?”  
Professor Sprout nodded and then left the office. They feared for their lives when Professor McGonagall would find her tongue.  
“Now, why the sudden field trip? Mr. Black?”  
“We, er, we wanted to go to Honeydukes, Professor,” he blushed.  
Dumbledore chuckled, “I hope you brought some Shock-o-Choc back for me.”  
“Detention,” McGonagall managed to pronounce through her clenched teeth, “Separate detention. And you will be confined to the Gryffindor Tower for the rest of the holiday. Expulsion will be next if I find you with so much as a toe out of the portrait!”  
They all looked down.  
“Of course, an exception will be made for the Christmas feast,” she added.  
It lifted their spirits a little as they trudged back to the Tower that they still had candy in their pockets. They sat by the fire until midnight, and when the clock struck twelve, the Christmas tree in the Common Room sprouted lights and baubles, with a star on top of the tree. Sirius walked up to their dorm and returned with two packages in his hands, which he gave to his yawning friends.  
“Merry Christmas, you idiots,” he said.  
Remus unwrapped his carefully and placed the Muggle book on his lap. It was The Call of Cthulu by HP Lovecraft, which was probably extremely difficult to obtain for a pure-blood wizard. He got up to hug Sirius.  
“Thanks!” he squeezed him, “Merry Christmas!”  
James didn’t need a more than one guess to figure out what his was. It was a brand new Nimbus 900.  
“I can’t wait to try this out!” he exclaimed.  
Before they could stop him his was whirring around the common room.


	9. The Black Lake

Peter wouldn’t talk to them the whole day when he found out why they all had detention. After James’s solemn promise that no such adventures would be had, he felt extremely excluded. Sirius didn’t really mind the silent treatment though. He tolerated Peter presence because James and Remus liked him, but if truth be told, he thought him unnecessarily clingy and too sensitive. Sometimes it annoyed him to no end.  
Sirius had already served his detention by organizing the files in Filch’s office, which was more painful than being torn apart by Giants. Remus would do his a week later because he was off to visit his parents again and wouldn’t be back for a while.  
For now, it was James turn. The sun began to set as he made his way across the lawn to the Gamekeeper’s hut on the outskirts of the school grounds. He knocked on the door timidly. He wasn’t really sure what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t getting attacked with slobber as the door opened. He was knocked onto the grass and a tongue met his cheek in one huge, wet lick.  
“Fang!” Hagrid yelled at the over-sized puppy, “Tha’s enough!”  
James groaned, pushing Fang off of him, and struggled to his feet. The Gamekeeper was chuckling in the door-frame as Fang lept around him.  
“Never seen a puppy that size,” he exhaled.  
“Oh, don’ mind him!” Hagrid said, “Fang’s a swee’heart. Aren’t yeh, Fang?”  
The dog barked happily at Hagrid while wagging his tail. James fixed his robes that were now awfully covered in dog hair and followed him inside. The house was very small, but extremely cosy. The fire gave the room a warm, welcoming glow, but it didn't overpower the rancid fishy smell that hovered around the room.  
“Ah, yeh mus’ be James Potter here for detention?” he asked as he scooped up a dented bucket.  
“Yes,” James frowned hesitantly, “Er, you’re Hagrid, right? What am I supposed to do—give Fang a bath?”  
Hagrid half-considered this as if noting it for future detention activities and then shook his head.  
“Nope,” he pushed the bucket, which James now saw to be filled with fish heads, into his hands, “We’ll be feedin’ Noodles her supper.”  
James nearly threw up. He couldn’t tell if it was the fish heads or the fact that Hagrid had named something Noodles.  
“Noodles?” he looked around the house for another creature, “Alright, where is she?”  
“She’s the Giant Squid in the the Black Lake,” said Hagrid.  
His brain shut down and restarted again.  
“Sorry, Hagrid, I thought you said Giant Squi—Giant Squid?” he widened his eyes, “Did you say Giant Squid? WHY ARE WE GOING TO FEED IT?”  
“C’mon there, James,” he laughed, picked up two more buckets and then headed for the door.  
The puppy lept after him playfully, but James did not. He hesitated for a while and then sprinted after Hagrid who was now a couple meters into the Frightening Forest. They followed a path down to the lake and came to a very steep downhill. They could see the glistening Black Lake from there and the deep, dark water made James sigh.  
It was almost dark when they reached the bank and Hagrid set down the buckets. He looked out onto the calm expanse of the water.  
“Alrigh’,” he grinned at James, “Ready to see Noodles?”  
His legs shivered, “Sure, bring it—it on.”  
Hagrid put his fingers in his mouth and let out an ear-piercing whistle that traveled over the lake. He put his hands on his hips in anticipation, but nothing happened. He whistled again, waited and then whistled a third time.  
“I don’t think it can hear you, Hagrid!” begged James, covering his ears.  
“Nah, somethin’s not righ’,” he frowned.  
A golden sparkle caught James’s eye on the edge of the water. It was shallow enough for him to see the unidentified gleam, even in the Lake’s murky water.  
He winced as Hagrid whistled again. The object was small, but James thought it might have just been the sand around it. He checked to see if Hagrid wasn’t paying attention, and then subtly bent down over the water. His fingers dipped in the water.  
“James!” Hagrid suddenly exclaimed, “Don’—”  
He felt a cold sticky hand wrap around his wrist and he was pulled into the water faster than he could object. He opened his eyes and saw the grayish face, wildly obscured by green hair, snarling at him. Deeper and deeper, it seemed to pull him until he couldn’t see which way was up.  
“Let go of me!” he cried, but only bubbles escaped his mouth.  
The selkie said nothing and soon they were joined by other creatures who were circling him menacingly. He tried to swim away, but they drew their weapons and pressed it against his body. He could feel his need to breathe becoming urgent. He tried to swim again.  
They selkie that had taken him, screamed and grabbed his foot to keep him underwater. He kicked it in the face and then the others jumped on him as well. He felt something being stuff into his mouth. Water flooded down his throat as he gasped for air that wasn’t there.  
His vision became blurry as he heard the distant screams of the merpeople swimming away from him.

The next memory James had was coughing up water on the North bank of the Black Lake. He gasped for air, rolling onto his stomach and gotten a face full of dirt and leaves.  
“Easy there, mate,” said the man who wiped the wet hair from James’ face.  
He was a young man, possibly in his early twenties, with dripping blonde hair and a soaking wet suit. From this information, he deduced that it was this man who had saved him from sure death, but he couldn’t even thank him. He was feeling incredibly dizzy and nauseous and his throat felt like it had been liquefied.  
“Don’t talk,” the man said, “Save your breath. I’m Edgar Bones, and you, mate, are one lucky boy.”  
James nodded weakly. Edgar picked him up as he slipped back into unconsciousness and carried him back to the castle.

He woke up again in the infirmary an hour later by Madam Pomfrey who was trying to get him to drink something. Even with his glasses missing, he could make out that the room was packed. Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Edgar Bones were whispering to each other seriously in the corner of the room. Sirius sat on the edge of his bed and Hagrid was leaning over him.  
“I’m so sorry, James,” he whimpered into his huge hands, “I didn’ know! I didn’ know!”  
“Shh!” said Sirius, grasping James leg on the outside of the blanket, “Look he’s waking up!”  
Dumbledore and Bones made their way over to the bed.  
“Dear me, James,” Madam Pomfrey fretted over him, “Did the merpeople do something to you in the water? Can you remember?”  
Edgar put his hands in his pockets, “There was Moonseed in his mouth when I tried to revive him. I don’t know if I got all of it out.”  
“Moonseed!” Madam Promfrey exclaimed and rushed off to find the antidote.  
James’s eyes lolled back in his head as Sirius gripped his arm anxiously.  
“James,” came Dumbledore’s soft voice, “This is very important. Did the merpeople speak to you? Can you remember what they said to you?”  
James rasped slowly, “Didn’t… say.”  
Dumbledore acknowledged this with a flicker of worry in his eyes.  
“He’ll be okay, right?” asked Sirius desperately, “Professor Dumbledore? Professor McGonagall?”  
“Sirius, why don’t you follow Mr. Pettigrew and—”  
“NO!” he yelled, with his eyes watering, “How can you ask me to go back to bed?!”  
He turned back to James who was now presumably sleeping, thought his jaw twitched every now and then. He wished Remus was back. Remus would be with him, unlike Peter who had disappeared of one second in James’s presence. Sirius reckoned that he would never forgive Peter for it.  
“Sirius?” asked Edgar, “Sirius Black, is it?”  
He nodded quickly, still trembling at the sight of his friend. Bones sat on the chair opposite the bed and examined the boy thoughtfully.  
“Very admirable for you to stay with your friend like this,” he said seriously, “What’s your favourite subject, Sirius?”  
Sirius wiped the tears from his eyes, “Um, I like Transfiguration.”  
“Transfiguration? I liked that one too,” Bones smiled at him, “I hope Professor McGonagall is still as good as she was when she taught me.”  
He gave her a small side glance and she nodded at him affectionately.  
“You went to Hogwarts?” Sirius asked, now a little calmer.  
Edgar nodded, “One hundred percent. I was missing the castle, so I came back for a short visit.”  
Sirius looked back at James and then at Edgar, “Thank you for saving my friend, Mr. Bones.”  
“Call me Ed, Sirius,” he said.  
Dumbledore, Hagrid and McGonagall left not long after, while Edgar retired after another two hours of chatting to Sirius. Madam Pomfrey made the bed next to James so that Sirius could sleep there if he decided to let himself sleep, and then she too left them.  
The pale full moon shone through the window and then a thought struck him as he watched the giant white orb in the sky. He wondered. He wondered about the fact that the full moon appeared every month and then he shook the idea from his head.  
After a while he crept into the adjacent bed and had all kinds of nightmares of James drowning, Walburga back running at him and a wolf howling in the distance.


	10. Research & Recovery

“Alright, I’m ready to go,” said James, throwing his blanket off of his legs, “Where are we supposed to be now? Charms?”  
“James, Madam Pomfrey said you’re paralyzed from the legs down for at least another day,” stated Remus not looking up from the book, ‘The Herbologist’s Companion’, he was reading.  
He sat in the chair next to the bed with his legs pulled up against his chest so that he could balance the book on his legs. It had been a couple of days since he had returned so he was less pale than usual, but a passive sleepiness still dictated the way he moved. Turning the pages was a chore and he did it slow motion.  
Sirius’s feet were rested on the arm of the chair unapologetically, while he half-lay eagle spread on the other bed making popping sounds with his mouth, and Peter sat next to him with all his limbs quite to himself. They had all skipped Charms to see how their friend was doing. To their relief Madam Pomfrey seemed to turn a blind eye to the fact that they were out of class.  
“I’m totally fine,” James scoffed.  
Remus peered up from the book, “You can move your legs?”  
James rolled his eyes and attempted to get out of bed. His legs flopped around and he fell face-first onto the floor with a stifled groan. There was a moment when he thought about taking his hand to lift him up, but Remus quietly resumed reading because—  
“I meant to do that!” James declared, “Don’t help me. No, don’t help me. I’m fine. I just need to…”  
He tried again, but his legs remained completely unresponsive and he landed on his back again, panting from the exertion. Sirius was trying very hard not to laugh at him, but James saw and narrowed his eyes at him. Suddenly they both burst out laughing, but Peter couldn’t take it any longer and got up to help James back to bed.  
“Listen to this,” said Remus suddenly and read from the book on his lap, “Moonseed is a highly poisonous plant that grows only at night in the open fields of Fole-Buf Village.”  
“Don’t we already know it’s poisonous? What are you saying?” asked Peter, a little confused.  
James’s eyes lit up, “Remus is saying that he’s never met a merperson who could travel that far in land.”  
“Exactly,” he sighed, “Maybe with great difficulty, but for moonseed? Why? There are hundreds of poisonous water plants growing in the lake. Which, I’m guessing, means—”  
“A human gave it to them,” Sirius finished his sentence as he sat up.  
“I don’t know,” began Peter.  
Just as they all exchanged confused glances, they heard the shuffling of many feet from behind the infirmary door. A very round man wearing a handsome suit entered and was followed by a number of fourth year students, whispering to each other as they saw the boys. Professor Slughorn was also a little baffled as to why they were there.  
“We got permission from Dumbledore,” Sirius lied before Slughorn could even ask.  
He nodded doubtfully as all the students crowded around the bed like they were watching a show. Sirius recognized one girl’s face, as she looked just like Edgar Bones except with darker hair and a slimmer jaw-line.  
“Class, may I have your attention?” he called to the students, “Here we have a rare case of Moonseed poisoning. James Potter…”  
“He’s been doing this all morning,” James whispered to them from the corner of his mouth while Slughorn continued explaining to his class, “Like I’m a insect or something.”  
“Who can tell me the symptoms of Moonseed Poison?” Slughorn challenged, his eyes twinkling.  
A girl put up her hand tentatively, “Violence, bloodlust and eventually death, sir.”  
“Good! Ten points to you, Jessica! Now,” projected Slughorn, “Main ingredient in the antidote? Anyone? Ah, yes Mr. Longbottom—always impressing.”  
“Er, is it Horklump Paste?” he said tentatively.  
“Ten points to Hufflepuff! Well done!” Slughorn clapped, “Those of you who have the subject, you must ask Professor Kettleburn to show you a couple of Horklumps when you see him next.”  
The students began whispering amongst themselves awkwardly.  
“We can’t really, sir,” said another student, “Care of Magical Creatures has been cancelled until further notice.”  
The four boys on the bed registered this new information with apprehension, but kept their mouths shut until the fourth year Potions Class had left the infirmary. They shuffled back to class after James received a few unwelcome pokes and prods from Slughorn who didn’t look at his face once. Edgar’s sister lingered behind to look at James properly and then left along with everyone.  
“So,” began James, as soon as he regained some of his dignity, “the Thestrals are missing, Kelpies are running wild, Merpeople tried to drown me, and now Dumbledore has cancelled Care of Magical Creatures—shot in the dark here, but this has something to do with beasts, right?”  
They all nodded solemnly, and then without warning, Remus sprang to his feet with his hand over his mouth. He took so long to speak that Sirius had almost said, ‘Well, spit it out then!’  
“I didn’t—I didn’t think about it like that until you put it in a neat row like that,” ha claimed as realization washed over his face, “Think about it. Thestrals—Thestrals that have been at this school forever, never left, and suddenly they vanish. Perfectly enclosed Kelpies that had no desire to break out make their way specifically into Hogwarts like they knew exactly how to get in—I mean, Kelpies can’t even stand light! And then merpeople, who normally talk to their prey before a kill, don’t say a word and instead try to poison you with something—something that makes you want to hurt people—grown countries away from the lake! Think about it!”  
James leapt up as he realized it too and then fell hard on the floor again.  
“They’re being controlled,” he groaned clutching his paining arm.  
“Like the Imperius curse?” whispered Peter.  
None of them were really sure whether it worked on magical creatures. Without a further thought, Remus dashed out of the infirmary and made his way to the third floor. He knocked violently on a large dark door with more energy than he had in days.  
“Professor Dlamini! Professor Dlamini!” he yelled as the door rattled under his fist.  
The door swung open and Remus met the anxious face of the youthful Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.  
“What is it, Remus?” he asked urgently, “Is someone hurt? What’s happened?  
“Sir,” he took a second to catch his breath, “Does the Imperius Curse work on animals?”  
“Asking about Unforgivable Curses?” he said crossly, “I’ve already told you, only Love can win!”  
“I know,” Remus whined, “I’m eleven years old. I couldn’t perform the Imperius Curse even if I wanted to, sir. But please, does it work on magical creatures?”  
Professor Dlamini took a long while to answer this question and then he replied, “Yes. If performed correctly, but it would take an extremely powerful wizard to do such a thing. Instinct plays a heavier role in creatures than in humans, so to perform the Imperius Curse on a beast would take years to master.”  
Remus mumbled a thank-you and then sped back down to the Hospital Tower.

After three more days in bed, James made a full recovery to the relief of his parents who had been writing to him every day since the incident. But the only thing on the four boys minds was the well of information they had stumbled upon about what was going on in Hogwarts. Peter and James had a minor disagreement about whether they should handle the situation themselves or tell a teacher, but James eventually won him over by saying that the teachers probably already knew and they still weren’t doing anything about it. Peter reluctantly agreed.  
“What if we actually get a first-hand account?” James whispered as they sat in the Library.  
“Like what?” asked Sirius, “Are we going to ask some Flobberworms?”  
James smirked at Sirius and moved his eyebrows up and down.  
“The Frightening Forest?” Sirius caught on and then laughed, “I think Peter might have a fit if he heard we want to go into the Frightening Forest.”  
Lily Evans peered around the bookshelf where they were sitting, “Are you actually that stupid or are you just pretending for attention?”  
“No one was talking to you, Evans,” James drawled, “Why don’t you go hold hands with Snivellus or something?”  
“You’ve already cost Gryffindor so many points!” she rolled her eyes, “At this rate we’re going to be last for the House Cup.”  
“Oh, go eat some dungbombs!” he sneered and she left quite impatiently.  
“Why are girls so nosy?” James stared at the spot where Lily stood.


	11. Warning

James and Sirius soon relayed their crazy plan to Peter and Remus. Peter instantly leapt upon the opportunity to redeem himself in Sirius’s books, who had been treating him coldly ever since the Black Lake incident, but Remus took a mighty ton of persuading and chocolate-bribing before they even got him to considered it.  
The day before they begged him a final time and he looked upward in deep thought, narrowing his eyes as if doing some complex mathematical equation.  
“Pretty please, Remus?” James pleaded, “It won’t be the same without out you.”  
He drifted back to the conversation, “I think…It should be fine. I mean, yeah.”  
Although, he wasn’t sure at all whether it would be fine.

They made it to the edge of the Frightening Forest before they couldn’t take it any longer. James spun around and was immediately confronted with the bright green glare of Lily Evans. She had been following them since the Common Room where she was waiting patiently for them to sneak out.  
After a whispered row in the Gryffindor Tower and James trying to push her back up the stairs, they resolved to just walk and hope she didn’t tag along. But he had reached boiling point when she wouldn’t stop chiding them in her softest voice as they went through the corridors.  
They had to run when they bumped into Peeves, who kindly didn’t rat them out, but instead decided throw the last of his remaining exploding firecrackers at their feet. His loud, relentless laughing woke up many portraits who thankfully didn’t see the five of them speed past.  
Now, they stood on the border of the Hogwarts lawn and the Frightening Forest, ready to have another row with Lily.  
“WILL YOU GO BACK TO BED, EVANS?” James raised his voice as loud as he could without drawing attention to them.  
“You absolute ninnies are going to get killed,” she retorted, peering into the dark forest, “Do you think they named it the Frightening Forest for fun?”  
James turned on his heel, “Well, we’re going. We’re tough. We’re boys.”  
She turned to look at his companions. Peter was trembling so much that it looked like he had got hit with a Jelly-Legs Jinx and the only thing between Remus and the floor was Sirius trying to hold him up. The boy was as white as a sheet.  
“Remus,” said James, following Lily’s concerned stare and seeing his friend, “Are you alright?”  
“There’s still two more days I think. I—counted them,” he mumbled so weakly that Sirius was the only one who heard.  
Lily and James exchanged glances.  
“Two more days?” Sirius asked softly, “What are you on about?”  
“Maybe I counted wrong,” he stumbled away from Sirius and then briefly looked up.  
No one thought it was possible, but he turned even paler than he was before.  
“I have to go!” he said suddenly and sprinted directly into the darkness Forest.  
If there was a moment that James could have had heart failure at eleven years old it was certainly that moment.  
“REMUS! NO!” they all shouted after him.  
Lily ran immediately back to the castle to find a teacher or prefect—perhaps Hagrid was closer, she thought. They didn’t spare a second to watch the head of red hair disappear into the darkness before sprinting after Remus themselves.  
“Remus!” called Sirius desperately.  
James clapped his hands over Sirius’s mouth violently, “We’ve got to keep our voices down, mate. We don’t know—”  
He was interrupted by a terrified squeal from Peter who stood some meters from them. Shivering tears rolled down his cheeks as he held up Remus’s ripped and bloodied robes. A sudden howl echoed throughout the trees. It was loud and piercing.  
James slowly let go of Sirius’s mouth.  
“Tell me that’s not a werewolf,” whimpered Peter, “Tell me Remus didn’t get eaten by a werewolf.”  
Sirius looked up as he had seen Remus doing only minutes earlier, and not at all to his surprise, the clouds had cleared and the bright full moon beamed in the sky. He understood. Remus Lupin’s monthly disappearances, his scars that never healed, ‘two more days’—it all made sense. He watched Peter and James look around nervously—they hadn’t put it all together, but Sirius had.  
“Yes,” said Sirius slowly, “I—I think it’s a werewolf, so we should get out of here. Right now.”  
Their feet froze to the ground when they heard another howl.  
“We—we can’t leave Remus,” James stuttered, “I mean, if he’s still alive.”  
Sirius scanned the trees fearfully, “James, on a list of bad ideas you’ve had, this has to be the worst so far.”  
“Let’s keep the ‘so far’ in there,” he laughed nervously, “I’d like to live to come up with more.”  
They didn’t hear another howl, but that was far from comforting. A dozen more unknown sounds started up—of hooves on the hard forest floor, of the angry snarling of something with a lot of teeth, of the flapping of large wings that broke branches. They wanted to move, but by then they had forgotten which way was out and the fear, rising in them like bile, had rooted them where they stood.  
Peter was softly wailing into Sirius’s shoulder, clutching his arm as if he were hanging on the edge of a cliff.  
“Who is there?” boomed a loud voice.  
There wasn’t any doubt from James and Sirius that Peter had just wet his pants. The large Oak tree in front of them was beginning to move until an old, jagged face had formed in the bark, looking down at the boys warily. The trunk of the tree let out a loud and rippling crack, and two limbs broke from it. Its fist met the ground and the animalistic sounds that the boys so feared had dissipated.  
While they were thankful for this, the predicament of not knowing whether the tree was friendly was still a problem. They backed up a couple of steps.  
“Who is there?” it repeated.  
“Er, I’m James Potter,” he replied tentatively and touched the shoulder of the now-hysterical Peter, “This is Peter Pettigrew.”  
Sirius fished around in his robes for his wand, “I’m S-Sirius.”  
The bark twisted into a menacing grimace focused solely on him, “You are of that witch’s blood. The witch who disturbs my peace.”  
“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about,” stuttered Sirius, “I didn’t do anything!”  
The other fist of the creature landed on the forest floor and the sounds started up again, this time much closer. The reflection of bright eyes appeared all around the boys.  
“We’re not here to disturb your peace, er, sir,” James projected his voice.  
“What do you then seek in my forest, boy?” the tree roared.  
“We came to ask a question,” he said shakily, “We just wanted to know what’s happening with the magical creatures. Because—”  
“You, wizardkind!” it became more angry, “You seek to control everything, but I’m afraid the beast is not meant to be tamed! You will reap the consequences!”  
The animalistic sounds crept closer and now the flashing eyes were paired with bright yellow teeth. Peter fell onto the floor in a curled ball and began wailing with all his might, begging for his life. Trying to make as minimal movement as possible, James slowly crouched down to put an arm around him.  
“So, it’s true then,” Sirius stepped forward, “A spell. Someone’s put them under a spell.”  
“The witch,” it said, “Your blood smells the same.”  
Sirius pointed his wand at the creature fiercely, “Take that back! I am nothing like any of them!”  
The Oak tree watched the young boy carefully, amused by the offense he had taken and then boomed with laughter. But Sirius refused to lower his wand despite James’s whispered protests from behind him.  
When the creature had stopped chuckling it began twisting back into nothing but a tree. It raised its arms from the ground with a couple of snaps of the bark.  
“You would do best to watch for Tararque,” warned the tree.  
“What?” asked Sirius.  
But the creature was no longer there. Instead the inanimate large Oak tree that had been there earlier stood passively swaying in the wind. The threatening eyes and sets of teeth had disappeared again, but they winced when they realized that the distant howling had resumed.  
“They went this way!” they all heard Lily’s voice in the distance.  
“What’s Tararque?” James asked Sirius.  
“I have absolutely no idea,” he stuffed his wand back into his pocket as he saw Lily run through the thicket followed by the tall shape of Albus Dumbledore.

“Where is Remus?” was the first sentence that came out of Dumbledore’s mouth once he had seen the three boys in the clearing.  
Dumbledore’s long burgundy robe swished behind him as he took urgent steps towards them. There was no greeting, not even a polite nod. Sirius hesitantly pointed a finger in the direction of the torn robes that lay scattered as if some beast had dragged their friend off. Dumbledore quickly examined the trail and then turned back to the boys and Lily.  
“I want you to go to Hagrid’s hut immediately and wait for me there,” he made it clear it wasn’t just a suggestion, “Lily knows the way back. If you meet anything along the way, shoot red sparks into the air.”  
Dumbledore’s calming, assertive voice did wonders for Peter’s whimpering that had now simmered down to a mild moan, but as soon as he was there giving instructions he disappeared amongst the trees in a burgundy swoop. The four of them were once again struck with fear.  
“It’s alright,” said James with one arm around Peter and taking Lily’s hand because she was trembling, “We can get back. Let’s go.”  
“I’m fine!” protested Lily, but took his hand anyway.  
Sirius drew his wand as a precaution, walking behind the three to make sure nothing was following them. The Jelly-Leg Jinx was the only spell he could really do with certainty and wondered how much of an effect it would have on a magical creature if one came charging out at them.  
They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the edge of the Forest under Lily’s direction, and Peter collapsed on the Hogwarts lawn, kissing it several times in gratitude. But Sirius instantly spun around and scanned pitch darkness of the Frightening Forest critically.  
“Dumbledore will find him, Sirius,” said Lily, “Come on, we have to get to Hagrid’s.”  
He peeled his himself away from the spot reluctantly and jogged after Lily, James and Peter.

“’Ere yeh go, Peter,” said Hagrid as he handed him a large cup of steaming pink water, “Puffapod tea for the nerves.”  
He took it shakily and pressed it to his lips while holding a blanket around him with his other hand. It was difficult to explain the expression on Peter’s face, except to say that he looked like he had unexpectedly sneezed all his brains out. James sat nearby the fire in deep thought with Fang at his feet as Lily watched Sirius pace up and down the small room. With an audible grunt, Hagrid seated himself on a stool next to Lily.  
“Don’t even say it, Evans” James glared at Lily.  
She was offended, “If you think I’m insensitive enough to say ‘I told you so’ right now, then I think you’re mistaking me for yourself!”  
He completely ignored her and looked up at the Gamekeeper, “Hagrid, have you ever heard of something or someone called Tararque?”  
“Can’t say I ‘ave,” came the disappointing reply.  
“A talking tree told us to watch out for Tararque,” he admitted with a sigh.  
Hagrid laughed a little which broke the somber mood of the night.  
“Aye, tha’s the Leshy yeh was talkin’ to,” he explained, “He’s a spirit of the forest an’ loves ter play tricks on humans, ‘specially witches an’ wizards. Tararque—pro’ably just made it up ter scare yeh.”  
James wasn’t really convinced and turned back to the flickering flames.  
The cup of tea almost slipped out of Peter’s hands when there was a knock at the door. Hagrid got up, with another grunt, and went to answer it. The Headmaster strode in wistfully has if he had just gone for a stroll in a Muggle park or woke up from a nap. Sirius stopped pacing and was on his toes, waiting for any kind of news.  
“I am extremely disappointed in all of you,” he said lightly.  
Their hearts sank lower than they thought possible. To hear those words from Dumbledore, Peter and James thought they might take their chances with the centaurs in the forest. For Sirius, he had heard those words a minimum of three times every day of his life, so it went completely over his head. Dumbledore sat down on one of the stools and poured himself some Puffapod tea. Hagrid sat near James this time and pulled little Fang onto his lap.  
“That being said,” he continued, “I want to give you four an opportunity to explain why you were in the Forest, let alone out of bed at this time of the night. The Forest is a very dangerous place, especially for those who only know basic magic.”  
James spoke almost immediately, “We’re so sorry, Professor Dumbledore, sir, but first Lily had nothing to do with this—she tried to stop us. We, er, didn’t listen, but she really did try.”  
No one really expected Lily to jump in and deny this in order to share the blame, and she didn’t. It was all their fault, and it wasn’t true to her if she decided to take the fall for something she genuinely didn’t do—she knew she could come up with a better plan than James Danger-Is-My-Middle-Name Potter anyway.  
Dumbledore acknowledged this, “Very honourable for you to admit so, James.”  
James glanced at Sirius, who was frowning intensely.  
“Sir, we went into the Forest because we wanted to know what was happening with the magical creatures,” he blurted out, “None of the teachers had any answers. What’s happening with the magical creatures? Sir?”  
Dumbledore crossed his one leg over the other and took a sip of his tea, “And what do you know about the magical creatures, Sirius?”  
It wasn’t at all condescending. Dumbledore had an amazing talent of arresting the attention and respect of an entire room without intimidating those around him. He truly wanted to know the thoughts keeping Sirius Black up at night and wanted to help.  
“Well, all of them are acting weird, but very, very weird—Thestrals, Kelpies, Merpeople and I think… and we think they’re under the Imperius curse—or like someone’s controlling them with a similar spell,” he took a breath as he continued, “We spoke to Professor Dlamini and he said it was possible.”  
Dumbledore’s eyebrows raised.  
“I mean Remus was really the one who put everything together about the Moonseed and the Kelpies attacking Hogwarts—Remus—Is he…?” he paused and then remembered, “Nevermind. The Leshy told us, I think it was telling the truth, that a witch is bewitching the creatures. That he sees her.”  
“Did the Leshy tell you who it was?”  
Dumbledore was now leaning forward with interest, his brow furrowed deeply. Sirius looked for James and Peter for help, but Peter looked down and James didn’t really know what to say. There were three direct relatives of Sirius that could have possibly had access to the Frightening Forest and he knew for a fact that Andromeda would never amount to hurting others. If truth be told, the Leshy was talking about one of two people who shared his blood—Bellatrix or her sister, Narcissa. Sirius was unsure which one, but he put his money on Bellatrix, as she was older and was more gifted with advanced magic. His breath hitched as he wondered whether he should tell Dumbledore or not. They were still his family.  
Suddenly, he remembered Bellatrix’s effort to save him during the Kelpie attack on principle. Perhaps, it was principle that made the decision for him.  
“No,” said Sirius, “The Leshy just said a witch.”  
He felt his friends’ surprised looks bore into the back of his head.  
“Are you sure?”  
The question made his stomach turn into a knot. Something told him that Dumbledore knew he was lying, but to change his mind now would be extremely embarrassing. And if Dumbledore knew, why did he still ask?  
“Yes, sir,” he affirmed.  
“Very well then, Sirius,” smiled Dumbledore gently, “I think that’s enough for tonight. It’s bed time for all of you now.”  
Hagrid got up with Dumbledore.  
“Y-you’re not going to p-p-punish us?” asked Peter.  
“I’m sure Professor McGonagall has something lined up for you boys when you see her again,” he nodded and put on his hat.  
They all shuffled out the door, all of them with the heads hung low at the expectancy of McGonagall’s wrath. Expulsion was probably on the table this time. Sirius lingered behind this time and looked up at Dumbledore expectantly.  
“Professor Dumbledore, is he still out there? Will he be okay alone?” he asked worriedly.  
“My dear boy,” said Dumbledore quite surprised, “are you aware of everything?”  
Sirius nodded and then saw James stop to wait from him, “Well, Remus doesn’t know that I know. I only just figured it out… Is he in trouble?”  
Dumbledore nodded to Hagrid and then put a hand on Sirius’s shoulder to steer him back to his friends.  
“I’m afraid he is in a little trouble,” Dumbledore sighed, “but there are one or two responsibilities in every man’s life that he can never forget—unfortunately, Mr. Lupin has to deal with them when he is just a boy. And I understand that.”  
They stopped a little out of earshot.  
“Remember it is his and only his choice to share such information,” Dumbledore warned and Sirius nodded respectfully, “You can tell your friends that I have sent him to St Mungos.”  
He patted him on the back and dismissed him with a nod. Sirius trotted to meet his friends, telling them about St Mungos along the way back to Griffyndor tower. Lily and James didn’t stop arguing once they started at the staircase, and it started with her saying thank you to James for taking responsibility for his actions.  
“I swear on my owl if you three go looking for this Tartar…whatever, I will rat you out to Professor McGonagall,” she threatened as she went up the stairs to the Girls’ Dormitory.  
Caradoc Dearborn, a third-year, appeared on the stair of the Boys’ Dorm and shouted miserably, “PEOPLE ARE SLEEPING. ARGUMENTS OUTSIDE.”  
James stuck his tongue out behind Lily’s back as she turned to leave. Despite having nearly having been killed, they were still alive and that was more than good enough for them to continue on their warpath. As far as Lily was concerned, James was a little impressed that she kept a clear head when Remus had run off, but it didn’t really make her less annoying.  
Caradoc was tapping his foot, waiting for them.  
“Like her, do you, James?” he winked.  
“No!” he sputtered, disgusted at the idea.  
“Next time, try not to schedule your dates in the Common Room at two in the morning,” he said.  
He looked really satisfied with himself, although half asleep, but Sirius quickly shut his ego down.  
“No need to be jealous of James and Lily, Caradoc,” Sirius chirped back.  
“I DON’T EVEN LIKE HER!” James yelled, “GIRLS ARE GROSS!”  
“Oi!” Alice Fawley appeared on the other staircase, “Keep it down, morons!”  
“I can-can get dates!” Caradoc defended and then turned to Alice, “Hey, wanna be my girlfriend?”  
“I’d rather jump into a pool of Bubotuber pus,” she pulled her face up.  
Sirius burst out laughing as Caradoc when a bright shade of pink and stalked back to bed.


	12. Hog-worse School of Gutsiness and Audacity

Professor Sprout was clutching a handful of Moly flowers in the one hand and passing around notices with the other which was caked with soil. The papers were smeared with dirt and plant stains by the time they reached James, Sirius and Peter, but she didn’t seem to notice in the slightest. She hesitated at Remus’s empty spot and then quickly passed over it.  
They hadn’t seen him for three weeks now and could only assume the worst because all the teachers had no answers for him. Sirius had a strong feeling that he had been expelled, but hoped whole-heartedly that he was wrong.  
Peter scraped off a piece of soil covering some of the letters of the notice and read it blushingly.

Students of All Houses,

Please take note that The Frightening Forest has hereby been renamed to The Forbidden Forest in the hope that students will remember that this area is completely out of bounds unless accompanied or given permission by a teacher. If a student breaks this rule, severe punishment or suspension will be given. Due to recent incidents, this rule will not be taken lightly.  
Have a good Easter break.

Deputy Headmistress,  
Professor Minerva McGonagall

They lifted their heads and everyone that was staring at them quickly resumed labeling their Moly flowers as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. They failed to understand how the whole school had heard about the fiasco, but Hogwarts seemed like a place where no event was ever swept under the rug.  
Already having a decent reputation for changing rules, the boys got a few impressed smirks from some and rolling eyes from others. Even the Hufflepuff girl sitting next to Sirius shifted closer to him in the hope that some of his apparent coolness would rub off on her.  
“Merlin’s Beard, that lesson took forever,” Peter wiped the sweat from his forehead as they exited the green house and made their way to the History of Magic classroom.  
“I, personally, could get used to the fame,” James stretched his arms behind his head.  
“Same here, mate,” Sirius smirked, “Hear what they’re calling us? The Four Founders of Hog-worse School of Gutsiness and Audacity.”  
“That’s a good thing?” Peter interjected, “Doesn’t sound like a good thing.”  
“Well, if Potter is a Hog-worse House,” James laughed, “it would be filled with absolute legends!”  
“Are you kidding?” said Sirius, “If we picked which students came here, the whole school would be filled with legends! I mean, some of these people are a bit…”  
“Slimy?” Peter ventured.  
They collectively frowned at him but then followed his pointed finger and saw Severus Snape walking down the corridor with his long nose buried in his book. James and Sirius smirked at each other and as Snape walked past James hit his book up into his face. Snape dropped it, holding his nose in pain.  
“Whoops!” James shrugged, “Maybe you should watch where you’re going, Snivellus.”  
“Potter,” Severus grimaced.  
“It speaks!” exclaimed Sirius pretending to be shocked, “Someone call Professor Kettleburn! The creature speaks!”  
Peter hooted with laughter as Snape tried to walk past them, but James stepped in front of him.  
“Where are you going, mate?” he pushed Snape a little back.  
Snape bent down to gather his notes, “I have a class to get to. Unlike you, I prefer not being late over prancing about in the halls.”  
“Oh, he walks to class, James?” Sirius leaned on James shoulder, “Well, that’s no fun.”  
“I whole-heartedly agree, Sirius,” he nodded solemnly and then whipped out his wand, “Tarantallegra!”  
Severus dropped the books that he had just picked up as his legs flew in all kinds of directions. He jumped up once or twice, and did several spins before other students in the corridor noticed him and burst into fits of giggles. Severus was on the verge of tears when James, Sirius and Peter also started snickering at his uncontrollable dancing.  
“Nice moves, Sniv—”  
WHACK!  
James Potter received a hard blow to the back of his head and his wand fell out of his hand. He spun around just to get hit in the face even harder and it took three more incredibly forceful wallops for James to pry the heavy Encyclopedia of Magical Potioneers out of Lily’s hands. Without her weapon, she merely kicked him in the shin, which made him howl with pain.  
“Keep your poor spellwork to yourself, Potter,” she turned her nose up and went to help Snape.  
She supported the shaky Severus around the corner. Sirius burst out laughing at James who was clutching his head and his shin, more out of disbelief than actual pain. He took his wand from Peter who had fetched it for him.  
“You got beat up by a girl,” Sirius jeered.  
“Evans isn’t a girl,” he retorted, “She’s half-Hippogriff or something.”  
They were about to look away when they saw a tall boy with mousy brown hair appear in the distance of the corridor. Sirius physically felt heart fall into his stomach out of nervousness. It was Remus Lupin and Remus Lupin was still his friend.  
Remus saw them coming for him at top speed with full fear in his eyes. James tackled him in a hug, followed by Sirius and then Peter with the force of a Knockback Jinx.  
“Are you okay?” James started up, “What got you? Did you die? Was it a centaur? Werewolf? Acromantula? Six Kneazles on a unicycle? Professor Dlamini just taught us how to heal wounds caused by Hags—and treat werewolf bites and—and in Herbology we learned how to cure—”  
“JAMES SHUT UP,” Remus laughed.  
He eventually fought his way out of the herd of boys and took a deep breath. They had never seen Remus looking so well since they had met him. He had no new scratches on his face or neck for someone who had survived a beastly attack in the Forbidden Forest and there was colour in his cheeks, but that was mainly from trying to escape James’s grasp.  
“Has McGonagall got to you yet?” asked Peter, “We had detention every night for a week cleaning the Trophy Room.”  
“Yeah,” he replied, “that’s why I’ve been away. I was suspended for two weeks after I recovered.”  
“Well, Merlin’s Flaming Pants, couldn’t you have sent an owl or something?” Sirius said crossly, but it did little to mask his relief.  
“My parents took Chigley away for now,” he explained, “I wanted to write. I really did.”  
“Okay, okay, okay” James interrupted impatiently, “but what got you? Dumbledore didn’t say.”  
“Er, well—I, well—” he tried the find the words, “I don’t really remember. Sorta passed out, mate.”  
James found the answer deeply depressing as he was waiting three whole weeks to hear a story of Remus single-handedly fighting off three Hungarian Horntails and a rogue Puffskein. His shoulders sunk with a sigh and he proceeded to tell Remus about what happened after he disappeared.  
“Who’s Tararque?” he asked with a befuddled expression on his face.  
“We were hoping you knew,” Peter moaned.  
“It’s definitely a name,” he thought for a second, “I could maybe ask my dad. Well, if he’s not still mad at me.”  
They were all for the idea of asking Mr. Lupin and agreed on it just as they sat down in History of Magic. The ghost of Professor Binns quietly shuffled his notes together as more students arrived. Sirius spun around to face Remus and James who were sitting behind him.  
“I rate Remus is definitely the Rowena Ravenclaw of Hog-worse,” Sirius said.  
Peter and James nodded seriously, as Remus searched them for an explanation of the inside joke. They had downright forgotten that he was gone in the first place and missed a couple of clever conversations.  
“Lupin’s for all the clever-like students,” Peter giggled, “Potter for th—”  
“Absolute legends,” James interjected.  
“And my house will be called Sirius. End of discussion. For people who want to get away from home,” Sirius declared, thinking about another horribly Noble House of Black.  
Peter nodded, “So, Lupin for the mysterious smart ones, Potter for th—”  
“The absolute legends.”  
“Right,” continued Peter, “Sirius-End-of-Discussion for students who like Hog-worse more, and Pettigrew…”  
He paused and realized that there wasn’t really much that he was good at. Looking a little sad when he couldn’t really find anything to represent, Peter winced when James ruffled his hair playfully.  
“Pettigrew for the best friends of Absolute Legends,” said James as he gave Peter a brightly sincere smile.  
Peter smiled back warmly and then turned around as Professor Binns began his bi-weekly drawl about the goblin rebellion. Remus leaned forward and whispered loud enough from all of them to hear.  
“If the Leshy knew about it, it’s not human. It’s name of something the lives in the forest.”  
Sirius shuddered in his seat, “Please not violent Horklump.”


	13. Defense Against the Dark Party

After the Easter break, the students of Hogwarts returned to find the dragon skeleton usually hanging in Defense Against the Dark Arts covered in flowers and ribbons. Professor Dlamini claimed that it lightened the ‘heavy mood’ of the subject and Dumbledore seemed a mixture of amused and a little pleased, but Madam Pomfrey was pulling her hair out from making Allergy Draughts for students.  
“Spring has sprung!” he announced and heard a sea of groans.  
Everyone had taken to either sleeping in class, hitting their heads on the desk or looking out the window when he started explaining the lesson for the day. He never taught them anything remotely dark or any useful defensive spells, instead he made them read excerpts from ‘How to Get Along with Wizards You Don’t Like’ and turn in essays on the proper way to scratch a dragon’s belly.  
“Today, we’re learning a jinx,” he stated.  
A few bored faces lit up, one of them being a skinny, black-haired boy who nudged his sleeping friend.  
“We’re learning a jinx,” James murmured to Sirius.  
“What? Did we get a new teacher?” he asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.  
“Right, get into pairs,” he announced and everyone began waking up and shuffling towards each other.  
Sirius and James immediately made a grab for each other and Peter and Remus teamed up contentedly. Professor Dlamini took his wand out as sleepy eyes barely blinked at him.  
“I’ll let the effect be a surprise,” he winked and then demonstrated the wand movement, “Practice now: a sharp flick of the wrist in a V-shape.”  
He wove in and out of the different pairs, watching them carefully pointing their wands at each other. Peter felt like his arm was about to fall off when he finally told them to stop with a clap of his hands.  
“Now, loud and clear,” he pointed his wand at Joseph Benn and with a sharp flick he said, “Cantis!”  
Everyone watched expectantly, but nothing happened and Joseph just stood there, shrugging. Professor Dlamini didn’t look disappointed at all. Joseph opened his mouth to tell the class off, but he let out a loud operatic note. He clasped his hand over his mouth.  
“What did you do to me-eee—ee?” he sang, hitting every note perfectly.  
“The singing jinx,” Professor Dlamini grinned, “If you’re in a sticky situation just remember you can use this jinx to cheer up your opponent—”  
“CANTIS!”  
It was unclear who had said it first but suddenly, everyone was running around hitting everyone with the singing jinx. The classroom sounded like a Frog Choir practice gone wrong, some screaming—some first years were even harmonizing with each other. The Professor tried to regain control, but he too, was caught in the crossfire and his melodies were lost in the choir.  
Remus had hit both James and Sirius delightedly and only avoided the jinx by rolling on the floor with laughter. James cast the Dancing Feet spell on the dragon skeleton and it shook violently with flowers falling everywhere.  
“It’s a party!” Sirius crooned in a horrible tune.  
“Stop!” sang Professor Dlamini.  
“Stop!” came the back-up vocalists.  
Despite only casting it on the dragon skeleton, all of the first-years were dancing, even the grumpy Joseph Benn was giggling furiously in an upbeat harmony.  
“Stop! All of you!”  
“All of you!”

“WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?” Professor McGonagall stormed inside the room and her mouth fell open.  
James Potter was standing on the Professor’s desk about to chug a jar of Doxy eggs upon a dare from Pasiphae. Remus was on the floor in stitches, successfully tripping a number of other students. Sirius was hanging from the jiggling skeleton. Peter had just tried to cast the Cantis jinx on Remus again.  
“CANTIGARE MAXIMA!” she yelled and they were all knocked back from the force of the spell.  
Slowly they all registered McGongall’s presence and touched their throats, realizing they could talk normally again. Professor Dlamini crawled out from under a pile of students, hardly able to breathe.  
“I resign! Tell Albus I’m resigning!” he panted.  
“Heartling! Black! Setzkorn! Lupin! Potter! Pettigrew! Rabnott!” McGonagall eyed the main trouble-makers, “My office, right now! Fifty points from both Ravenclaw and Griffyndor. All my life—”  
Her shoes made loud, angry clicks as she left angrily with the seven first years at her tail. They went so quickly down the corridor that the short little witch Mary Rabnott had to jog to keep up with everyone. As they went up the stairs, Sirius recognized Edgar coming down, wholly covered in a silvery liquid. He had an idea.  
He caught Edgar’s eye, made a beheading gesture several times and then pointed to McGonagall desperately. Bones caught on quite quickly.  
“Professor McGongall,” he stopped as he passed her, “Could I borrow a couple of your students? It’s really quite urgent.”  
She scanned the dripping young man and the asked politely, “Whatever for, Edgar?”  
Edgar looked at Sirius again who motioned to himself, James, Peter and Remus. He turned back to McGonagall with a pleasant smile. He had always been one of her favourite students despite not continuing her subject, so she had a natural soft spot for him.  
“Just some heavy-lifting. Quite detention-worthy,” he said, looking behind her, “Those four in the back will do.”  
“Alright then,” she nodded a little hesitantly when she saw who he was talking about.

Sirius, James, Peter and Remus skipped after Edgar Bones merrily as the other three glared at them, resuming McGonagall’s neck-breaking pace. Edgar let out a little laugh and extended his hand, the only clean part of his body, to Remus.  
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said cheerily, “I’m Edgar Bones. Investigating Magizoologist and your friend’s rescuer.”  
Remus had heard a lot about him from both James and Sirius and was happy to have got the chance to meet him, even if he was lying to get them out of trouble. They followed him as he continued making his way down the stairs casually.  
The boy took his hand happily, “Remus Lupin. Thanks for back there, but, er—”  
“What am I covered in?” he shook his head grumpily, “A unicorn exploded on me. Got some in my mouth too.”  
James nearly threw up, but put his hand over his mouth just in time. His eyes watered from the imagery of a live animal exploding on someone and into their mouth.  
“WHAT? THEY CAN DO THAT?” Sirius exclaimed.  
“Well, they can if an Erumpent charges them,” he sighed, wondering what he actually signed up for.  
“No way,” said James, “Erumpents are from Africa. Why would one be at Hogwarts?”  
“It’s all the Magical creatures,” Remus admitted, “I mean, my dad was called to investigate Lethifold activity in Manchester. It’s like everything’s coming to England.”  
“Your dad?” asked Edgar, “Lupin. Ah, yes, Lyall—he’s excellent. I’ve only met him once, but I hope I’ll get to his level one day.”  
They got to the end of the staircase and he stopped.  
“One-time deal, Sirius,” he smirked.  
“We were about to die in McGonagall’s office!” Sirius pleaded, “It was a life-or-death situation. It doesn’t count as a favour, Ed!”  
“No game!” he laughed, “You boys have used your only Edgar Bones Excuse card. Stay out of trouble, you four.”  
He turned left with an amused shake of his head and walked towards the entrance gargoyle of Dumbledore’s office.  
“He’s cool,” commented Remus lightly.  
“The coolest,” Sirius beamed.  
“C’mon, we’ve got a free lesson,” James sprinted the other way, “Tararque research?”  
They all nodded enthusiastically having just been reminded about the dire situation of the beasts.


	14. Tararque

There was always time for Quidditch in James’s eyes, and he wasn’t going to miss the match against Ravenclaw for the world. He already began to imagine himself one day being the Captain of the Griffyndor Quidditch team, adored by the whole house and going on to play for England. His dad was an avid Quidditch fan and it didn’t take much for the craze to rub off on James. As they made their way down to the pitch, he made a mental note of trying out next year. He was aiming for Chaser, but he wouldn’t mind what position he played as long as he got in.  
Sirius was dressed in his usual Lion Mascot suit, earning a few snickers from first year girls as they walked past, but he still wore it proudly and even got Caradoc to enchant it so that when put on, it looked like a genuine lion’s body walking on two legs. Peter was then only one who tried to talk him out of it, but failed miserably.   
“We have to win this match,” he commented fiercely, “We have to uphold our reputation as the best House ever!”  
In fact, Griffyndor really didn’t have to win the match. They were very far ahead in terms of points for the Quidditch Cup, so they could afford to lose by four hundred points and still be in the lead. The outcome of the competition was pretty much sealed even before Madam Hooch had blown the whistle.  
“Calm down, Godric Griffyndor,” Remus laughed, “We have a strong team. I’m sure we’ll be fine against them.”  
They climbed right to the top of the stands and sat down as close to the front as they could possibly get. Sirius craned around trying to get a better look at something.  
“Is that—?”   
“Wha?” asked James whose painted cheeks were bulging with chips he had bought from one of the vendors, “Izzit Andrew Snowyowl?”  
Sirius stared at him for a full minute, deciding whether or not James had actually asked him if he saw a random Appleby Arrows player, who had no likelihood whatsoever of being present at the match. James was extremely clever when he wanted to be, but he really didn’t seem to have a filter between his brain and his mouth.  
“You’re mental,” he laughed and then returned to craning over the students in front of him, “I just thought I saw Bellatrix.”  
“Tha’s no’ good,” he mumbled, stuffing more into his mouth.  
“Nah, I think it was just Snape having a bad hair day.”  
Peter giggled at the comment.  
Emmeline Vance and Sam Colthrone shook hands in front of Madam Hooch on behalf of their teams and awaited her whistle. The teams took flight as Madam Hooch launched the Quaffle, Bludgers and Golden Snitch into play. Griffyndor had taken possession of it very aggressively and were passing it haphazardly to dizzy the Ravenclaw players.  
“It’s a reverse pass from Longbottom,” Alice announced, “Doesn’t seem like Ravenclaw has even touched to the Quaffle yet! Looks like the Ravenclaw Seeker better catch that pesky snitch early.”  
The multitude of flags and banners stretched around the pitch, varying from blue banners and flags to red posters and scarves. Remus stretched his leg with a groan. His joints hurt with every movement and he had to close his eyes to manage the pain for a second. The screaming of the students around him rung in his ears deafeningly. Sirius grabbed both his legs and swung them up to put on his lap.  
“That better?” he asked, still watching Cardoc swoop around with the Quaffle.  
“Yeah,” said Remus, a little surprised at Sirius’s casual nature, “Yeah, a lot better. Thanks.”  
“Okay, so what do we know?” asked James who had not taken his eyes off of the pitch either.  
Peter cleared his throat, “We know that the Tararque is something bad that lives in the forest. We know that one of two specific witches is responsible for the magical creatures acting up, and yesterday I asked Madam Pomfrey about Kelpie attacks—all the injured were Muggle-borns.”  
He looked extremely worried as he said this, even though he knew he was a Half-blood. James suddenly stood up apprehensively. Peter thought he had said something wrong, but when James leaned forward over the barrier, he realized it had nothing to do with him.  
“Vance has intercepted the Quaffle!” Alice yelled, “Dearborn is going in for the rescue and—Oh no! A Bludger straight to the back! Vance approaches…”  
Alice began to trail off as usual when things became really exciting. The crowd held their breath as McGonagall was scolding Alice for not commentating, but already the Quaffle was through the goal-post and the Ravenclaw students were cheering as loud as they could.   
“Stooging!” James yelled, “It has to be! Madam Hooch! It’s a foul! Call it out!”  
“Foul!” echoed Sirius from where he was sitting.  
Madam Hooch raised her noise in the air as if to tell the complaining Griffyndor students that she had heard them, but their complaints were irrelevant. The scoreboard read 10-0. James sat down with an angry sigh and then turned to Remus in a completely different mood.  
“You ask your dad yet?” he asked.  
“Not really,” he shrugged, “He sent me a Howler this morning so I’m still in the red.”  
“Look!” cried Peter.  
They all turned to the pitch and already Griffyndor were making a comeback. A Chaser was standing on his broom like a surfboard and threw the Quaffle powerfully from the middle of the field. Two Ravenclaws tried to grab it in time, but both of them were hit mercilessly with Bludgers thanks to Griffyndor’s Beaters. The Quaffle shot through the left hoop to the dismay of the Keeper and the crowd roared—literally roared.  
“Colthrone scores for the Lions!” Alice jumped from her seat which made her voice distort a little.  
The Keeper launched the Quaffle back into play angrily and the game resumed.  
“What a goal!” James exclaimed, “He doesn’t even need to worry about studying—Colthrone will be scouted the second he leaves Hogwarts, I bet!”  
“Speaking of studying…” Remus mumbled.  
“I completely forgot!” squeaked Peter, “When do the exams start?”  
“Two weeks from now,” replied Sirius and everyone was surprised that he knew, “But, c’mon, I can do the year’s work backwards if they asked!”  
“Shhh!” James leapt up again.  
“Raveclaw is about to score and—”  
Alice fell three rows down as the entire ground shook violently. It stopped. Vance slowed down just before the middle hoop right next to the Keeper. Both of them scanned the area cautiously as a deathly silence followed the short earthquake.  
James spoke from the corner of his mouth, “Do you guys also have a funny feeling about—”  
The shaking started up again. This time more violent than before. Several of the stands collapse into each other displacing students all over. Screams rung across the pitch. Peter managed to grab a Hufflepuff girl’s hand as she nearly went flying out of the stands. The Quidditch players and Madam Hooch had abandoned the game and were whizzing around saving falling students from certain death.  
The earthquake settled down again, but this time every teacher leapt to their feet and began instructing students to make their way to the ground before another started up.  
“Andromeda!” Sirius yelled as he saw his cousin fall in the distance.  
She pulled out her wand and cast a Cushioning Charm to break her fall. Sirius didn’t need any suggestions. He clawed his way in the opposite direction of the crowd to get to his cousin who was now trying to stand up on the Quidditch pitch. Remus and James followed him quickly with Peter reluctantly following with a sob.  
“Fake it until you make it, right?” he whimpered to himself.  
Just as they had reached the start of the pitch, another Earthquake hit. More screeches echoed from the students running back to the castle.The four boys all fell on top of one another and saw a Quidditch post fall almost on top of Andromeda. Her shriek made Sirius find his feet again, but they ground suddenly burst open covering them in huge chunks of dirt and grass.  
“Go back!” Professor McGonagall yelled and waved them off as she wobbled past speedily the dust.  
The next thing they knew they were blasted with sand and tufts of grass from the ground breaking. The forceful dust cloud swept Remus a couple of meters from his friends, who had only managed to stay together by clinging to the grass. The wind calmed down and they landed with a thud on the ground. The sight in front of them was awful.  
“Ta-T-Tararque, I’m guessing?” James asked no one in particular.  
“Bloody hell,” Sirius nearly dropped his wand.  
The creature was double the size of a giant and looked something like a pale, furless gorilla. It had burst from the ground bearing its large serrated teeth aggressively. The teachers took a moment to figure out what they were looking at when it let out a vociferous screech that made them all cover their ears. It was directly facing Andromeda on the ground, who Sirius now saw, had half of her body trapped under the goal-post that had fallen.  
“Why isn’t she using her wand?” he watched her try and push it off again and again without success.  
The teachers were all congregated behind Tararque and couldn’t see Andromeda screaming for her life, but the boys stood on the side and were in optimum position to see both parties. His cousin was about to be eaten for Tararque breakfast.   
James and Sirius were the first to sprint directly for her and Peter scampered after him. Remus could only watch as he tried to get up, but a sharp pain splintered up his leg. The force of him being blown back by the dust cloud had thrown him against one of the stands, crushing his already pained leg in the process. It was broken or at least fractured, he was sure.  
“Confringio!” shouted McGonagall, but it rebounded and she landed on the ground.  
Filtwick rushed to check on her and then pointed his wand up at the creature, “Pertrificus Totalus!”  
The curse rippled around an invisible barrier as the Beast roared directly at Andromeda as if she was causing it. It stepped on the goal-post and she screamed when she heard her arm crack loudly.  
“Expulso!”  
“Reducto!”  
No matter what the teachers threw at the Tararque, the curses rebounded or were just absorbed into the creature.   
But James was the first to reach Andromeda and immediately jumped over the goal-post and began trying to lift it up. Sirius joined in seconds later.  
“My-my wand,” she stuttered, still looking up at the Beast, “It’s broken. Sirius, lift it with magic, for Merlin’s sake!”  
Tararque had enough of the squealing, suddenly making a full lurch for Andromeda. Remus dove on his back in front of her and lashed his wand out.   
“Cantis!” he screamed.  
The creature’s roars were replaced by short tunes, which momentarily stopped the attack because it was confused. It tried to make another sound. Remus waited fearfully for when it remembered that he was below him. Moving was again was out of the question—if his leg was fractured before, running to the rescue had now turned his bones into fragments.  
“Remus, what in the bloody hell?” Sirius asked, exasperated.  
“It was the first spell I thought of!” he retorted, “Sue me!”  
“No, wait,” James let go of the post and leapt in front of Tararque, “Jinxes work! They work! Tarantallegra!”  
Tararque lost control of its limbs and the teachers behind it had to dive out of the way to avoid being stomped on. James let out a short laugh in disbelief, but Sirius had no time for amusement.  
He did a swish and flick with his wand, concentrating with all his might, and said, “Wingardium Leviosa!”  
The goal-post creeked, but landed back on Andromeda. She shrieked.   
“C’mon, again!”   
Sirius looked next to him and Lily stood, panting with her wand out. He nodded.  
“Wingardium Levio—”  
They had to duck as a giant paw swiped at them.  
“James!” Sirius yelled.  
“I know!” he snapped.  
He and Remus, who was still lying on his back, were casting every stupid jinx and charm they knew. They tried to get Peter in on the action, but he appeared as if someone had put him in a full body-bind. Taraque was already dancing wildly, singing and had broken out in boils, but it still tried to knock them over and bite them. The teachers were completely bewildered, as they couldn’t see who was casting the spells.  
“Ebublio!” Remus yelled as a bright purple light shot from his wand and encased the creature.  
“Wingardium Leviosa!” Lily and Sirius said together.  
The goal-post lifted minutely enough for James to yank Andromeda out of the way, but the Ebublio jinx didn’t prove to be very powerful. Tararque burst out the magical bubble in a couple of head-butts. Andromeda summoned all her strength and snatched Peter’s wand from him, but before she could even cast the Jinx she had in mind. Professor Dlamini had reached them.  
The words seemed to come out of his mouth in slow motion. A bright green light burst from the tip of his wand. Tararque gave one last melodic screech, before it collapsed on the ground, motionless. The silence was only disturbed by all of their heavy-breathing.  
“That’s illegal,” Peter finally whispered.  
Dlamini was out of breath and the intense looks made him put his wand away. Without so much as an explanation, he fled.


	15. Reparo

“It wasn’t us who cast the Killing Curse!” Peter immediately squealed as the Headmaster and Professor made their way over.  
“While I don’t mean to underestimate your potential, Mr. Pettigrew,” Professor McGonagall said harshly, “I don’t believe you are even capable of such a curse yet.”  
He waddled a couple of steps back behind James to hide his face. His wand was still in Andromeda’s hand and with her curls wildly swept all over her face, she looked too afraid to even think of letting it go. Her eyes remained fixed on the limp body of Tararque, that had mere minutes ago shattered her shoulder that she only began to feel then. But she was not alone in terms of adrenalin-rushes.  
It was only once they all looked down that they realized Remus had passed out from the pain of his leg, once the immediate threat of the creature was gone. His friends crouched down, gently shaking him to wake him up, but were shooed away by Madam Pomfrey and her floating stretcher. She levitated him onto it and it flew in the direction of the castle with the flick of her wand. Sirius eyed her as he examined Andromeda. He was crossing his fingers behind his back that there was no permanent damage. Madam Pomfrey smiled.  
“A cupful of Skele-Gro and you’ll be whole in no time, dear,” she cooed.  
Dumbledore nodded at her, “Won’t you make your way up to the infirmary, Miss Black? And take the others here with you—they have also endured a horrible shock.”  
Andromeda bowed her head meekly as Sirius leapt to support her and they hobbled back to the castle, followed by Lily, Peter and James. They wanted to speed straight into wildly excited conversations, but none of them really knew where to start. Peter peered around and saw the teachers begin to cast repairing charms on the Quidditch pitch. Dumbledore appeared to be in a deep conversation with Hagrid and Edgar Bones, who had just arrived on the scene, about what to do with the body of the creature.  
“Thank-you,” Andromeda winced as her shoulder pulled, “Thank-you, all of you, for not leaving me.”  
“As if I ever would,” Sirius scrunched his nose up with a small smile.  
When they joined up with the crowds funneling themselves back into the castle, Ted Tonks came rushing in the other direction and plainly swept Andromeda off of her feet. She whimpered a little in response to the quick movement.   
“Dromeda, you’re okay,” he panted, “When I heard what happened at the match—I was so worried.”  
She smiled lazily, the way one does when in absolute pain, “Now, you know to never leave me alone just to study, Teddy.”  
“Merlin’s Beard, never again!” he flushed pink.  
He needed no other invitation to end their long-lived friendship and planted a passionate kiss on her lips that she responded to weakly. James mimed throwing up. Lily elbowed him in the ribs. Andromeda pushed Ted’s face away with her good arm.  
“Ted, this is great,” she said plainly, “but I’m really in pain here.”  
“Oh! Right!”  
He nodded to the First-Years, only remembering they were still there, and then pushed through the crowd to get Andromeda to the Infirmary as quickly as possible. Sirius and James exchanged looks.  
“Romantic,” Lily swooned.  
“Yuck,” James and Sirius pronounced together.  
“Yu-uck?” Peter ventured.

 

“I swear to Merlin, Remus, you spend so much time in here that you might as well list it on the subjects you take,” James sighed.  
The sat around his bed with the early morning light filtering through the windows, so bright that James could feel his skin going red, but still didn’t bother to move. The excitement that had kept them up all night was beginning to fade and now they were just lazing about the Hospital Wing, much to Madam Pomfrey’s annoyance, as if Remus’s bones were going to grow back within the hour. The ward was surprisingly empty as most students who were injured had been taken out of school and sent to St. Mungos instead.  
Once actually looked at, Madam Pomfrey booked him in for four days, exclaiming that she had never seen someone run on a leg with practically non-existent bones. He was so used to being in pain that a short dash to save his friends was hardly a task.  
Remus frowned at James, “You were in here last week for swallowing a gobstone.”  
“If there was a competition,” jeered Sirius, putting down the Muggle magazine that Remus’s parents had brought him, “it’s between you two for top marks for the Hospital Tower exam.”  
“You’re on,” retorted James.  
“On?” Remus blinked, “On what?”  
He gestured to himself and Remus.  
“The competition—end of our seven year Hogwarts stay—who gets into the Hospital Tower more,” he grinned.  
Remus burst out laughing, “James, I can guarantee that I’ll win that, but alright then. What does the winner get?”  
James thought about it for a long while, even Sirius joined in, but the silence got bigger as each of them thought. Remus occasionally opened his mouth excitedly and then shut it, realizing his idea, to suggest that the winner gets a bar of Honeyduke’s Chocolate, was lame.  
“Winner gets…” Sirius finally said, “No, no, wait, I know! The loser has to run into McGonagall’s office naked, on the last day of school.”  
“Okay, fine,” Remus chuckled, “but I’m already at ten points. You’re on six, little Jimmy Jam.”  
“What?!” he squealed and jumped up, searching the room for something to jump off of.  
“No way,” interjected Sirius, “Rule one: it doesn’t count if you did it on purpose.”  
He slumped back into his seat and let out a heavy sigh. McGonagall had no idea what was coming her way—James wondered if he had an instinct for making bets he was sure to lose. Slowly, the bored quietness crept up on them again.  
“Pity about Peter,” said Sirius, resuming reading the magazine and obviously not bothered about it at all.  
James sat up straight, “Right? But I know at least fifteen people who went home straight after the match. The gang feels incomplete.”  
Sirius snorted loudly. James and Remus looked at him in disbelief.  
Sirius only turned the page, “Oh, sorry, there’s an article in here on a man who married his parrot.”  
“Well, anyway,” Remus continued, “I think he left because of Mrs. Pettigrew. I mean have you guys met her?”  
“Yeah,” Sirius and James said in unison.  
They were interrupted by the arrival of Edgar, Lyall Lupin and Dumbledore, closing the door lightly. Madam Pomfrey looked up, exasperated by the idea that Remus had more visitors, but only nodded when she saw who it was. James got up to offer them his seat, but Dumbledore declined with a polite shake of his head.  
“I see you’re both still here, James, Sirius,” Mr. Lupin said happily and sat down next to his son, “How are you feeling, Remmy?”   
“Alright,” he nodded enthusiastically, “Better.”  
“That’s my tough kid,” he smiled, putting his arm around his shoulder.  
Unlike James, Remus adored it when his parents were affectionate and loved reciprocating it. He was never embarrassed when his parents called him pet names or hugged him, which Sirius had already realized, was the thing that made Remus an unashamed hugger. He was sheltered in a way that didn’t stifle his growth like Peter who had his mother micro-managing his every move.  
“Now, boys,” Edgar began, “don’t get us wrong. We are concerned about Remus’s health, but that’s not why we’re here. We think you three know more about what happened yesterday than you let on, and we’d like to know what that is.”  
Sirius turned a page of the Muggle magazine slowly. It was him who had lied and withheld information from Dumbledore and sure enough, when he looked up, Dumbledore and Edgar were looking directly at him. He shrugged and carried on reading ‘Mick Jagger’s Rockstar Wedding in St. Tropez’.  
“It was very brave what you did, Sirius,” Dumbledore said calmly, “but we need the whole story for us to help you. I hate to think what might have happened if Professor Dlamini was not there.”  
“So…” James began.  
“No, I’m afraid Professor Dlamini has not contacted me since then, James,” Dumbledore preempted his questions, and answered with a smile, “and if he does, then unfortunately, I have no choice, but to remove him from the staff for using an illegal curse in front of students.”  
James closed his mouth, still mid-sentence, and processed the answer. Sirius was still mightily absorbed in the article, but Dumbledore was patient enough.   
“Sirius, tell them,” Remus encouraged, meeting his sullen gaze.  
He didn’t want to bad-mouth his family when it came down to it. The Noble House of Black was a total joke and he made fun of being part it every chance he got, but admitting that his own cousin was involved in seriously injuring people with the Dark Arts—it felt a lot different. Sirius let Remus pry the magazine out of his hands and he turned to Edgar Bones and Dumbledore.  
He sighed, “Bellatrix Black, my cousin, was in the castle when the Kelpies attacked and she was at the match when Tararque app—”  
“What now?” Edgar stepped closer.  
“Tararque,” repeated Sirius, “It had a name. It had a name and it didn’t need to be killed. It was only avenging the beasts who were being bewitched—by my cousin, Bellatrix. The Leshy told us that the witch who was controlling the magical creatures is related to me—and well, she was here for no obvious reason.”  
Edgar’s breath hitched, “How did you know how to get through to it? The beast—Tararque.”  
“Oh, that was just luck, really,” James shrugged, “We only really know jinxes and… wait a second, The Killing Curse, how did it work if it was a curse?”  
“We examined the creature,” Mr. Lupin said, “It was enchanted so that if anyone wanted to hurt it, the spell would deflect. We thought you had realized that, but it seems your intentions were just really that innocent. Mpho Dlamini, on the other hand, wanted to kill it, not even hurt it.”  
“Bellatrix,” Dumbledore mulled the name over to himself and then said aloud, “Thank-you, Sirius.”  
He didn’t want to make eye contact with the Headmaster so he looked at Remus instead who smiled at him and it made him feel like he had definitely done the right thing. Mr. Lupin stayed where he was as the Edgar Bones and Dumbledore bowed to leave.  
“Sirius Black,” Edgar called just as he was about to close the door behind him, “Do me a favour and take Care of Magical Creatures in your third year. I’ll see you three around.”  
He winked at him and then disappeared behind the large door.


	16. Eton Mess

The boys had to busy themselves with studying for their first year exams, which between fighting off beasts and pranking other students, had become a lesser priority. James begged his parents to talk to the Pettigrews to let Peter come back, and he had absolutely no idea what they said to Mrs. Pettigrew, but it worked. Peter was back just in time for the first exam, Potions.  
They had to brew Wideye Potion without a recipe and felt like Slughorn was watching them all very carefully, even checking his watch whenever a student submitted a vial of their potion when he made no clear indication that it was a race. Severus finished first and Slughorn grinned at him expectantly, but he only shyly left the exam venue. After a couple more students, Lily handed her vial in without a doubt that it was absolutely perfect.  
From the corner of his eye, James saw Peter add three mistletoe berries instead of two. Knowing that he couldn’t warn him, he merely stepped four paces to the right and cringed as his potion exploded, landing where James had been standing. Slughorn whipped out his wand and the mess disappeared. Peter had to start again with only twenty minutes to spare.  
Sirius finished his potion ages before James, but deliberately took his time pouring it into his vial and writing his name, until James had also finished. They handed it in together and by then, Slughorn had stopped even taking notice of who handed in their potions.  
Transfiguration was the next day and they were called in individually to transform a baby corn snake into a shoelace. Marks were allocated in accordance with how much the shoelace slithered and if it still retained the corn snake pattern. Once again, Peter came out looking a little flustered.  
“It was perfect. The shoelace was perfect,” he muttered to himself as he passed the line of students, “Why did it have to burst into flames?”  
Sirius and James tried to cheer him up by turning Severus pants into multiple corn snakes while they waited for James’s turn. Remus buried his nose in his book. When James was called in, he ambled in and readied his wand.  
“Potter,” McGonagall wrote on her clipboard, “Could you please turn this snake into a shoelace?”  
He tapped the snake once and made a deft swishing movement, “Vargifors!”  
The snake curled into a ball as it turned completely white and flat. Its head twisted into an aglet at the end. It was a hundred percent perfect spell. Professor McGonagall blinked at the boy, trying to figure out why she was cursed such an exasperating student who was so good at her subject.  
“Can I keep the snake?” he asked.  
“If you can turn it back,” McGonagall challenged, “for extra points.”  
“Serpefors!”  
James’s new pet snake, Lenny, was now everyone’s pet hate. It slithered all over there notes when they were trying to study and Sirius once tried to turn it back into a shoelace, but only turned it white which James thought looked ten times cooler.  
He walked into the Charms exam with the snake coiled on his head. The Anti-Cheating spells didn’t warn Flitwick of any suspicious activity, so he unfortunately had to deal with Lenny winding and unwinding himself in James hair. He managed to cast the Fire-making Spell decently, but when it came to repairing the scorched surface, he could only get it half-right. 

The exams went by as quickly as they came, and they got their results. Remus had done outstandingly well in all his subjects despite disappearing three days before the exams and attending all of them looking like he got hit by a bus. Peter swore he saw Remus fall asleep in the History of Magic exams twenty minutes in, but his results came out has fourth highest in the year. Meanwhile, Peter had passed his subjects by the skin of his chin, only failing Transfiguration with a letter enclosed that he should practice over the holidays. James and Sirius also did very well, especially in Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
As they were packing up their dorm, Seth Abbadus snapped his suitcase loudly.  
“See you never,” he waved them off and walked down the stairs.  
“What’s his deal?” James frowned.  
“Oh, I spoke to his twin sister, Sarah,” Sirius shrugged, “She said that he kinda had it with us when we put Caradoc’s toad in his bed. Think he’s getting a new dorm next year.”  
There was an awkward silence and then all four of them burst out laughing.  
“Ah, glad to see you all in good spirits,” Dumbledore hummed.  
They looked up to a tall bearded man smiling down at them with a half-eaten Acid Pop in his hand. He was wearing a very bright vermillion robe and a matching tall pointed hat that drooped a little to one side.  
“Professor Dumbledore,” Peter started up, “Did we do something wrong?”  
“Au contraire, Peter,” he said, sitting down on Seth’s vacant bed, “I merely came to wish you four well on your travels back home. Any plans for the holidays?”  
While the others were more guarded about why the Headmaster had come to see them off, James Potter was all too ready to relay what he wanted to do with his summer.  
“Quidditch practice,” grinned James excitedly, ‘I’m going to try out for the team next year.”  
“I’m sure you’ll make a fine Quidditch player, James,” Dumbledore laughed, “Did you know that Professor McGonagall was also once a Quidditch player?”  
“No way,” he replied, genuinely impressed.  
“Well, I’ll come visit after my family gets back from America,” Sirius interrupted, “Whether or not my parents like it. We can play Quidditch together and I can hide in your pantry or something.”  
James and Dumbledore laughed at the idea of Sirius being stuffed amongst the groceries. He was actually very serious.  
“I’ll come too,” Peter pushed, “I don’t have any plans really. Perhaps I can try out too?”  
James nodded avidly at the idea. Remus stood in the corner of the dorm, folding and unfolding the same set of robes numerous times. He prayed that it wouldn’t happen, but Dumbledore turned to him. He always tried to remain as quiet as possible when the Headmaster was in the room as he felt he created enough trouble by just being a student in his school.  
“And what about you, Remus?” he asked, “Will you be joining friends playing Quidditch?”  
He shook his head subtly and put the robes into his bag. James was about to whine about when Sirius jumped into stop the inevitable interrogation that Remus would have to deal with.  
“Wh—”  
“Professor Dumbledore!” Sirius yelled at the top of his voice and then paused, realizing the loudness of his voice, “Er, sorry, er, so what happened with the whole beastly uprising?”  
It was as if Dumbledore was waiting for this question. They all suddenly understood the reason for his visit. He couldn’t send them off with all these questions and no answers floating in their head. Perhaps another two decades and he would resign to being a cryptic old man, but not yet.  
“Ah,” he took a deep breath, “Well, we are working on a lot of theories. Guesswork, you could say, but it seems that there are a couple of ex-Hogwarts pupils that have very strong opinions about the way the Wizarding world is run. Unfortunately, we have no idea whether it really was Bellatrix who cast those spells, but Aurors have been alerted to keep an eye on her.”  
“What about the magical creatures?” Peter asked.  
“Mr. Bones and Professor Flitwick have been working closely together to make sure that any creature that roams on Hogwarts grounds will have their free will protected,” he bowed his head, “For now, the attacks are over.”  
They all breathed sighs of relief. Dumbledore got up and gestured towards the door.  
“Now, you can’t possibly leave without attending the End-of-Term Feast?” he asked.  
James grinned, dropping his trunk on the floor and dashed down the stairs, but not without grabbing Sirius’s shirt and yanking him along with him. Peter gave Remus a guilty look and then rushed after them, leaving him and Dumbledore alone. Remus dared not move.  
“You are something that Godric Griffyndor would be truly proud of, Remus,” Professor Dumbledore said, “and you have wonderful, wonderful friends.”  
Remus quickly wiped a tear from his cheek.  
“Despite the year’s events, I do not regret my decision to allow you the opportunity of a magical education,” Dumbledore continued, “You will always find that this castle will welcome you with open arms. You are safe here.”  
He blushed heavily and slowly backed down the stairs, unsure how to respond to Dumbledore’s remarks. He sniffed all the way down to the Feast and sat next to Peter whose cheeks were bulging with Eton Mess. He could feel Sirius watching him, but he chose not to look up.  
They heard Dumbledore’s voice again, this time behind a podium in front of the entire Great Hall.  
“Welcome!” he began, “Or should I say, goodbye? We have endured a very strange year together, but we are all still in one piece—and rest assured that next year will pose no extreme danger to anyone. Ah, but you are not here for my speech. I believe we have a ceremony to perform.”  
All the students cheered loudly. He clapped his hands twice and the banners hanging from the enchanted ceiling turn a royal blue.  
“Congratulations, Ravenclaw,” Dumbledore announced, “The House Cup belongs to you.”  
Without warning, Sirius and James got up on the table and mooned the entirety of Ravenclaw like they had planned it beforehand. Remus and Peter were in stitches until McGonagall grabbed them down from the table and ordered them to pull their pants up. Everyone was laughing except the Ravenclaws.  
“Potter! Black!—I don’t—you two—”  
She didn’t know how to punish them because he would be gone in the next couple of hours and they knew this. They escaped her grasp, grabbing the Yorkshire pudding and pumpkin.  
“Food fight!” Sirius yelled.  
James threw the mashed pumpkin straight onto Seth’s shoulder, some landing on Marlene, who retaliated by flinging a handful of peppermint humbugs. James ducked and one hit a Slytherin straight in the eye.  
“FOOD FIGHT!” repeated Caradoc, standing up with the steak and kidney pie in his hand.  
All the teachers froze as the students began tossing every bit of food in front of them at each other. Dumbledore shook his head in slight amusement and then lightly gestured for the teachers to step in. Slughorn got a faceful of Dragon tartar from Andromeda, trying to stop his house, and Professor Sprout slipped on a buttered pancake on the floor.  
“Remus, c’mere,” Sirius beckoned him and then slammed a bowl on Eton Mess in his face, “Promise you’ll come visit?”  
“Yeah, promise?” James swerved out of the way to avoid getting hit with a goblet of pumpkin juice.  
But before he could answer, McGonagall had grabbed Sirius and James by their collars and escorted them from the Great Hall. She was dripping with custard and fury.  
“I’m calling your parents!” she said at last, “You are both going home right this instant!”  
They only managed a quick salute to Remus and Peter, left in a food war-zone. It was only fair that they were sent home, or else they would never leave. They all four grinned at each other with a silent promise that the next year would be even better.


End file.
